diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/lucene/queryparser/classic/MapperQueryParser.java b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/lucene/queryparser/classic/MapperQueryParser.java
index 79f522e8c1fe5..015972c568417 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/lucene/queryparser/classic/MapperQueryParser.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/lucene/queryparser/classic/MapperQueryParser.java
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
-
+import java.util.Collections;
 import static java.util.Collections.unmodifiableMap;
 import static org.elasticsearch.common.lucene.search.Queries.fixNegativeQueryIfNeeded;
 
@@ -91,7 +91,8 @@ public MapperQueryParser(QueryShardContext context) {
 
     public void reset(QueryParserSettings settings) {
         this.settings = settings;
-        if (settings.fieldsAndWeights().isEmpty()) {
+        if (settings.fieldsAndWeights() == null) {
+            // this query has no explicit fields to query so we fallback to the default field
             this.field = settings.defaultField();
         } else if (settings.fieldsAndWeights().size() == 1) {
             this.field = settings.fieldsAndWeights().keySet().iterator().next();
@@ -148,6 +149,11 @@ public Query getFieldQuery(String field, String queryText, boolean quoted) throw
         if (fields != null) {
             if (fields.size() == 1) {
                 return getFieldQuerySingle(fields.iterator().next(), queryText, quoted);
+            } else if (fields.isEmpty()) {
+                // the requested fields do not match any field in the mapping
+                // happens for wildcard fields only since we cannot expand to a valid field name
+                // if there is no match in the mappings.
+                return new MatchNoDocsQuery("empty fields");
             }
             if (settings.useDisMax()) {
                 List<Query> queries = new ArrayList<>();
@@ -721,7 +727,7 @@ protected Query getBooleanQuery(List<BooleanClause> clauses) throws ParseExcepti
     }
 
     private Query applyBoost(String field, Query q) {
-        Float fieldBoost = settings.fieldsAndWeights().get(field);
+        Float fieldBoost = settings.fieldsAndWeights() == null ? null : settings.fieldsAndWeights().get(field);
         if (fieldBoost != null && fieldBoost != 1f) {
             return new BoostQuery(q, fieldBoost);
         }
@@ -780,7 +786,8 @@ private Collection<String> extractMultiFields(String field) {
         if (field != null) {
             fields = context.simpleMatchToIndexNames(field);
         } else {
-            fields = settings.fieldsAndWeights().keySet();
+            Map<String, Float> fieldsAndWeights = settings.fieldsAndWeights();
+            fields = fieldsAndWeights == null ? Collections.emptyList() : settings.fieldsAndWeights().keySet();
         }
         return fields;
     }
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/QueryStringQueryBuilder.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/QueryStringQueryBuilder.java
index ca716372571cc..fd6f33e27ba87 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/QueryStringQueryBuilder.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/QueryStringQueryBuilder.java
@@ -981,7 +981,11 @@ protected Query doToQuery(QueryShardContext context) throws IOException {
             }
             qpSettings.lenient(lenient == null ? context.queryStringLenient() : lenient);
         }
-        qpSettings.fieldsAndWeights(resolvedFields);
+        if (fieldsAndWeights.isEmpty() == false || resolvedFields.isEmpty() == false) {
+            // We set the fields and weight only if we have explicit fields to query
+            // Otherwise we set it to null and fallback to the default field.
+            qpSettings.fieldsAndWeights(resolvedFields);
+        }
         qpSettings.defaultOperator(defaultOperator.toQueryParserOperator());
 
         if (analyzer == null) {
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/QueryStringQueryBuilderTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/QueryStringQueryBuilderTests.java
index 86647233aa3fc..5b9990c81cd9e 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/QueryStringQueryBuilderTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/QueryStringQueryBuilderTests.java
@@ -324,7 +324,6 @@ public void testToQueryWildcarQuery() throws Exception {
             MapperQueryParser queryParser = new MapperQueryParser(createShardContext());
             QueryParserSettings settings = new QueryParserSettings("first foo-bar-foobar* last");
             settings.defaultField(STRING_FIELD_NAME);
-            settings.fieldsAndWeights(Collections.emptyMap());
             settings.analyzeWildcard(true);
             settings.fuzziness(Fuzziness.AUTO);
             settings.rewriteMethod(MultiTermQuery.CONSTANT_SCORE_REWRITE);
@@ -352,7 +351,6 @@ public void testToQueryWilcardQueryWithSynonyms() throws Exception {
             MapperQueryParser queryParser = new MapperQueryParser(createShardContext());
             QueryParserSettings settings = new QueryParserSettings("first foo-bar-foobar* last");
             settings.defaultField(STRING_FIELD_NAME);
-            settings.fieldsAndWeights(Collections.emptyMap());
             settings.analyzeWildcard(true);
             settings.fuzziness(Fuzziness.AUTO);
             settings.rewriteMethod(MultiTermQuery.CONSTANT_SCORE_REWRITE);
@@ -390,7 +388,6 @@ public void testToQueryWithGraph() throws Exception {
             MapperQueryParser queryParser = new MapperQueryParser(createShardContext());
             QueryParserSettings settings = new QueryParserSettings("");
             settings.defaultField(STRING_FIELD_NAME);
-            settings.fieldsAndWeights(Collections.emptyMap());
             settings.fuzziness(Fuzziness.AUTO);
             settings.analyzeWildcard(true);
             settings.rewriteMethod(MultiTermQuery.CONSTANT_SCORE_REWRITE);
@@ -689,6 +686,29 @@ public void testToQueryPhraseQueryBoostAndSlop() throws IOException {
         assertThat(phraseQuery.getTerms().length, equalTo(2));
     }
 
+    public void testToQueryWildcardNonExistingFields() throws IOException {
+        assumeTrue("test runs only when at least a type is registered", getCurrentTypes().length > 0);
+        QueryStringQueryBuilder queryStringQueryBuilder =
+            new QueryStringQueryBuilder("foo bar").field("invalid*");
+        Query query = queryStringQueryBuilder.toQuery(createShardContext());
+        Query expectedQuery = new BooleanQuery.Builder()
+            .add(new MatchNoDocsQuery("empty fields"), Occur.SHOULD)
+            .add(new MatchNoDocsQuery("empty fields"), Occur.SHOULD)
+            .build();
+        assertThat(expectedQuery, equalTo(query));
+
+        queryStringQueryBuilder =
+            new QueryStringQueryBuilder("field:foo bar").field("invalid*");
+        query = queryStringQueryBuilder.toQuery(createShardContext());
+        expectedQuery = new BooleanQuery.Builder()
+            .add(new TermQuery(new Term("field", "foo")), Occur.SHOULD)
+            .add(new MatchNoDocsQuery("empty fields"), Occur.SHOULD)
+            .build();
+        assertThat(expectedQuery, equalTo(query));
+
+
+    }
+
     public void testToQuerySplitOnWhitespace() throws IOException {
         assumeTrue("test runs only when at least a type is registered", getCurrentTypes().length > 0);
         // splitOnWhitespace=false