diff --git a/compiler/noirc_evaluator/src/acir/acir_context/mod.rs b/compiler/noirc_evaluator/src/acir/acir_context/mod.rs
index 06333fa0174..2d92ab60ab0 100644
--- a/compiler/noirc_evaluator/src/acir/acir_context/mod.rs
+++ b/compiler/noirc_evaluator/src/acir/acir_context/mod.rs
@@ -273,45 +273,30 @@ impl<F: AcirField> AcirContext<F> {
         predicate: AcirVar,
     ) -> Result<AcirVar, RuntimeError> {
         let var_data = &self.vars[&var];
-        if let AcirVarData::Const(constant) = var_data {
+        let inverted_var = if let AcirVarData::Const(constant) = var_data {
             // Note that this will return a 0 if the inverse is not available
-            let inverted_var = self.add_data(AcirVarData::Const(constant.inverse()));
-
-            // Check that the inverted var is valid.
-            // This check prevents invalid divisions by zero.
-            let should_be_one = self.mul_var(inverted_var, var)?;
-            self.maybe_eq_predicate(should_be_one, predicate)?;
-
-            return Ok(inverted_var);
-        }
-
-        let results = self.stdlib_brillig_call(
-            predicate,
-            BrilligStdlibFunc::Inverse,
-            vec![AcirValue::Var(var, AcirType::field())],
-            vec![AcirType::field()],
-        )?;
-        let inverted_var = Self::expect_one_var(results);
+            self.add_data(AcirVarData::Const(constant.inverse()))
+        } else {
+            let results = self.stdlib_brillig_call(
+                predicate,
+                BrilligStdlibFunc::Inverse,
+                vec![AcirValue::Var(var, AcirType::field())],
+                vec![AcirType::field()],
+            )?;
+            Self::expect_one_var(results)
+        };
 
         // Check that the inverted var is valid.
         // This check prevents invalid divisions by zero.
         let should_be_one = self.mul_var(inverted_var, var)?;
-        self.maybe_eq_predicate(should_be_one, predicate)?;
 
-        Ok(inverted_var)
-    }
+        //    `predicate * should_be_one = predicate`
+        // -> `predicate * (should_be_one - 1) = 0`
+        // so either `should_be_one` is one or `predicate` is zero
+        let pred_mul_should_be_one = self.mul_var(should_be_one, predicate)?;
+        self.assert_eq_var(pred_mul_should_be_one, predicate, None)?;
 
-    // Constrains `var` to be equal to predicate if the predicate is true
-    // or to be equal to 0 if the predicate is false.
-    //
-    // Since we multiply `var` by the predicate, this is a no-op if the predicate is false
-    pub(crate) fn maybe_eq_predicate(
-        &mut self,
-        var: AcirVar,
-        predicate: AcirVar,
-    ) -> Result<(), RuntimeError> {
-        let pred_mul_var = self.mul_var(var, predicate)?;
-        self.assert_eq_var(pred_mul_var, predicate, None)
+        Ok(inverted_var)
     }
 
     // Returns the variable from the results, assuming it is the only result