diff --git a/aws/resource_aws_glue_catalog_table.go b/aws/resource_aws_glue_catalog_table.go
index 527f16ba141..122581d4429 100644
--- a/aws/resource_aws_glue_catalog_table.go
+++ b/aws/resource_aws_glue_catalog_table.go
@@ -450,6 +450,8 @@ func expandGlueTableInput(d *schema.ResourceData) *glue.TableInput {
 
 	if v, ok := d.GetOk("partition_keys"); ok {
 		tableInput.PartitionKeys = expandGlueColumns(v.([]interface{}))
+	} else {
+		tableInput.PartitionKeys = []*glue.Column{}
 	}
 
 	if v, ok := d.GetOk("view_original_text"); ok {
diff --git a/aws/resource_aws_glue_catalog_table_test.go b/aws/resource_aws_glue_catalog_table_test.go
index c44144e9f52..8f575fe2b74 100644
--- a/aws/resource_aws_glue_catalog_table_test.go
+++ b/aws/resource_aws_glue_catalog_table_test.go
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ func TestAccAWSGlueCatalogTable_basic(t *testing.T) {
 					testAccCheckResourceAttrRegionalARN(resourceName, "arn", "glue", fmt.Sprintf("table/%s/%s", rName, rName)),
 					resource.TestCheckResourceAttr(resourceName, "name", rName),
 					resource.TestCheckResourceAttr(resourceName, "database_name", rName),
+					resource.TestCheckResourceAttr(resourceName, "partition_keys.#", "0"),
 					testAccCheckResourceAttrAccountID(resourceName, "catalog_id"),
 				),
 			},