diff --git a/crates/goose-cli/src/recipes/extract_from_cli.rs b/crates/goose-cli/src/recipes/extract_from_cli.rs
index 0550ee26fef4..199c7091e3a6 100644
--- a/crates/goose-cli/src/recipes/extract_from_cli.rs
+++ b/crates/goose-cli/src/recipes/extract_from_cli.rs
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ pub fn extract_recipe_info_from_cli(
     }
     Ok((
         InputConfig {
-            contents: recipe.prompt,
+            contents: recipe.prompt.filter(|s| !s.trim().is_empty()),
             extensions_override: recipe.extensions,
             additional_system_prompt: recipe.instructions,
         },
diff --git a/crates/goose-cli/src/recipes/recipe.rs b/crates/goose-cli/src/recipes/recipe.rs
index a7c99e041419..49b0e6bf7210 100644
--- a/crates/goose-cli/src/recipes/recipe.rs
+++ b/crates/goose-cli/src/recipes/recipe.rs
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@ pub fn load_recipe_content_as_template(
             missing_parameters_command_line(missing_params)
         ));
     }
-
     render_recipe_content_with_params(&recipe_file_content, &params_for_template)
 }
 
diff --git a/crates/goose-cli/src/recipes/search_recipe.rs b/crates/goose-cli/src/recipes/search_recipe.rs
index d87c30e97cc5..e78dfe223b36 100644
--- a/crates/goose-cli/src/recipes/search_recipe.rs
+++ b/crates/goose-cli/src/recipes/search_recipe.rs
@@ -117,7 +117,6 @@ fn read_recipe_file<P: AsRef<Path>>(recipe_path: P) -> Result<RecipeFile> {
 
     let content = fs::read_to_string(&path)
         .map_err(|e| anyhow!("Failed to read recipe file {}: {}", path.display(), e))?;
-
     let canonical = path.canonicalize().map_err(|e| {
         anyhow!(
             "Failed to resolve absolute path for {}: {}",
diff --git a/crates/goose-cli/src/recipes/template_recipe.rs b/crates/goose-cli/src/recipes/template_recipe.rs
index 2792f20ba662..43a04e08bd33 100644
--- a/crates/goose-cli/src/recipes/template_recipe.rs
+++ b/crates/goose-cli/src/recipes/template_recipe.rs
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ use std::{
 use anyhow::Result;
 use goose::recipe::Recipe;
 use minijinja::{Environment, UndefinedBehavior};
+use regex::Regex;
 
 use crate::recipes::recipe::BUILT_IN_RECIPE_DIR_PARAM;
 
@@ -15,8 +16,13 @@ pub fn render_recipe_content_with_params(
     content: &str,
     params: &HashMap<String, String>,
 ) -> Result<String> {
+    // Pre-process content to replace empty double quotes with single quotes
+    // This prevents MiniJinja from escaping "" to "\"\"" which would break YAML parsing
+    let re = Regex::new(r#":\s*"""#).unwrap();
+    let processed_content = re.replace_all(content, ": ''");
+
     let env = add_template_in_env(
-        content,
+        &processed_content,
         params.get(BUILT_IN_RECIPE_DIR_PARAM).unwrap().clone(),
         UndefinedBehavior::Strict,
     )?;
@@ -168,5 +174,21 @@ mod tests {
             let err = render_recipe_content_with_params(content, &params).unwrap_err();
             assert!(err.to_string().contains("unexpected end of input"));
         }
+
+        #[test]
+        fn test_empty_prompt() {
+            let content = r#"
+prompt: ""
+name: "Simple Recipe"
+description: "A test recipe"
+"#;
+            let params = HashMap::from([("recipe_dir".to_string(), "test_dir".to_string())]);
+            let result = render_recipe_content_with_params(content, &params).unwrap();
+
+            assert!(result.contains("prompt: ''"));
+            assert!(!result.contains(r#"prompt: "\"\"""#)); // Should not contain escaped quotes
+
+            assert!(result.contains(r#"name: "Simple Recipe""#));
+        }
     }
 }