diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/__init__.py
index c10d19cd384e80..03558df986d099 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/__init__.py
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ def __init__(self, class_name, package, config, subdir, aliases={}, required_bas
 
         if config and not isinstance(config, list):
             config = [config]
-        else:
+        elif not config:
             config = []
 
         self.config = config
diff --git a/test/units/plugins/test_plugins.py b/test/units/plugins/test_plugins.py
index 76a2600f53bdc3..3543cbc230cf42 100644
--- a/test/units/plugins/test_plugins.py
+++ b/test/units/plugins/test_plugins.py
@@ -75,3 +75,7 @@ def test_plugins__get_paths(self):
         #with patch('glob.glob', mock_glob):
         #    pass
 
+    def test_plugin__config(self):
+        config = ['/one', '/two']
+        pl = PluginLoader('test', '', config, 'test_plugin')
+        self.assertEqual(pl.config, config)