diff --git a/CHANGELOG.v2.alpha.md b/CHANGELOG.v2.alpha.md
index 5a2983d9bdccf..8aa330f28597c 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.v2.alpha.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.v2.alpha.md
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file. See [standard-version](https://github.com/conventional-changelog/standard-version) for commit guidelines.
 
+## [2.51.1-alpha.0](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/compare/v2.51.0-alpha.0...v2.51.1-alpha.0) (2022-11-18)
+
 ## [2.51.0-alpha.0](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/compare/v2.50.0-alpha.0...v2.51.0-alpha.0) (2022-11-18)
 
 
@@ -28,7 +30,7 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file. See [standa
 
 * **synthetics:** aws synthetics runtime version syn-nodejs-puppeteer-3.8 ([#22707](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/22707)) ([228c865](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/commit/228c86532118b143e365b2268d06ee3a36fcf3a7))
 
-## [2.49.1-alpha.0](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/compare/v2.49.0-alpha.0...v2.49.1-alpha.0) (2022-10-31) 
+## [2.49.1-alpha.0](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/compare/v2.49.0-alpha.0...v2.49.1-alpha.0) (2022-10-31)
 
 ## [2.49.0-alpha.0](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/compare/v2.48.0-alpha.0...v2.49.0-alpha.0) (2022-10-27)
 
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.v2.md b/CHANGELOG.v2.md
index 6cc1a3a654f8b..805bb39067fb3 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.v2.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.v2.md
@@ -2,6 +2,13 @@
 
 All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file. See [standard-version](https://github.com/conventional-changelog/standard-version) for commit guidelines.
 
+## [2.51.1](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/compare/v2.51.0...v2.51.1) (2022-11-18)
+
+
+### Bug Fixes
+
+* ECS service replacement regression ([#22978](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/22978)) ([680e048](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/commit/680e048abc0c1e778b64c4e29fefcff0704f4d30)), closes [#22467](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/22467)
+
 ## [2.51.0](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/compare/v2.50.0...v2.51.0) (2022-11-18)
 
 
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-ecs/lib/base/base-service.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-ecs/lib/base/base-service.ts
index fa8a757a4375d..e7a2b58d8855c 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-ecs/lib/base/base-service.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-ecs/lib/base/base-service.ts
@@ -532,9 +532,16 @@ export abstract class BaseService extends Resource
     const disableCircuitBreakerEcsDeploymentControllerFeatureFlag =
         FeatureFlags.of(this).isEnabled(cxapi.ECS_DISABLE_EXPLICIT_DEPLOYMENT_CONTROLLER_FOR_CIRCUIT_BREAKER);
 
-    return disableCircuitBreakerEcsDeploymentControllerFeatureFlag ? undefined : {
-      type: DeploymentControllerType.ECS,
-    };
+    if (!disableCircuitBreakerEcsDeploymentControllerFeatureFlag && props.circuitBreaker) {
+      // This is undesirable behavior (the controller is implicitly ECS anyway when left
+      // undefined, so specifying it is not necessary but DOES trigger a CFN replacement)
+      // but we leave it in for backwards compat.
+      return {
+        type: DeploymentControllerType.ECS,
+      };
+    }
+
+    return undefined;
   }
 
   private executeCommandLogConfiguration() {
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-ecs/test/base-service.test.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-ecs/test/base-service.test.ts
index 6e3b563cf4e1e..4aafd851984e9 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-ecs/test/base-service.test.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-ecs/test/base-service.test.ts
@@ -1,13 +1,16 @@
+import { Template, Match } from '@aws-cdk/assertions';
+import * as ec2 from '@aws-cdk/aws-ec2';
 import * as cdk from '@aws-cdk/core';
+import { App, Stack } from '@aws-cdk/core';
 import * as ecs from '../lib';
 
-let stack: cdk.Stack;
+describe('When import an ECS Service', () => {
+  let stack: cdk.Stack;
 
-beforeEach(() => {
-  stack = new cdk.Stack();
-});
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    stack = new cdk.Stack();
+  });
 
-describe('When import an ECS Service', () => {
   test('with serviceArnWithCluster', () => {
     // GIVEN
     const clusterName = 'cluster-name';
@@ -42,3 +45,40 @@ describe('When import an ECS Service', () => {
     }).toThrowError(/is not using the ARN cluster format/);
   });
 });
+
+test.each([
+  /* breaker, flag => controller in template */
+  /* Flag off => value present if circuitbreaker */
+  [false, false, false],
+  [true, false, true],
+  /* Flag on => value never present */
+  [false, true, false],
+  [true, true, false],
+])('circuitbreaker is %p /\\ flag is %p => DeploymentController in output: %p', (circuitBreaker, flagValue, controllerInTemplate) => {
+  // GIVEN
+  const app = new App({
+    context: {
+      '@aws-cdk/aws-ecs:disableExplicitDeploymentControllerForCircuitBreaker': flagValue,
+    },
+  });
+  const stack = new Stack(app, 'Stack');
+  const vpc = new ec2.Vpc(stack, 'Vpc');
+  const cluster = new ecs.Cluster(stack, 'EcsCluster', { vpc });
+  const taskDefinition = new ecs.FargateTaskDefinition(stack, 'FargateTaskDef');
+  taskDefinition.addContainer('web', {
+    image: ecs.ContainerImage.fromRegistry('amazon/amazon-ecs-sample'),
+  });
+
+  // WHEN
+  new ecs.FargateService(stack, 'FargateService', {
+    cluster,
+    taskDefinition,
+    circuitBreaker: circuitBreaker ? { } : undefined,
+  });
+
+  // THEN
+  const template = Template.fromStack(stack);
+  template.hasResourceProperties('AWS::ECS::Service', {
+    DeploymentController: controllerInTemplate ? { Type: 'ECS' } : Match.absent(),
+  });
+});
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/version.v2.json b/version.v2.json
index 13673036bf4cd..a0fe876f996a8 100644
--- a/version.v2.json
+++ b/version.v2.json
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 {
-  "version": "2.51.0",
-  "alphaVersion": "2.51.0-alpha.0"
+  "version": "2.51.1",
+  "alphaVersion": "2.51.1-alpha.0"
 }
\ No newline at end of file