diff --git a/plugins/provisioners/chef/provisioner/base.rb b/plugins/provisioners/chef/provisioner/base.rb
index c7d6aa3a7..2de3d28cf 100644
--- a/plugins/provisioners/chef/provisioner/base.rb
+++ b/plugins/provisioners/chef/provisioner/base.rb
@@ -132,7 +132,8 @@ module VagrantPlugins
 
           # Get the JSON that we're going to expose to Chef
           json = @config.json
-          json[:run_list] = @config.run_list if !@config.run_list.empty?
+          json[:run_list] = @config.run_list if @config.run_list &&
+            !@config.run_list.empty?
           json = JSON.pretty_generate(json)
 
           # Create a temporary file to store the data so we