diff --git a/pygmt/tests/test_x2sys_cross.py b/pygmt/tests/test_x2sys_cross.py
index 19185f32c3e..3426d6395d5 100644
--- a/pygmt/tests/test_x2sys_cross.py
+++ b/pygmt/tests/test_x2sys_cross.py
@@ -22,9 +22,31 @@ def fixture_mock_x2sys_home(monkeypatch):
     monkeypatch.setenv("X2SYS_HOME", os.getcwd())
 
 
-def test_x2sys_cross_input_file(mock_x2sys_home):  # pylint: disable=unused-argument
+def test_x2sys_cross_input_file_output_file(
+    mock_x2sys_home,
+):  # pylint: disable=unused-argument
     """
-    Run x2sys_cross by passing in a filename
+    Run x2sys_cross by passing in a filename and output to an ASCII txt file
+    """
+    fname = which("@tut_ship.xyz", download="a")
+    with TemporaryDirectory(prefix="X2SYS", dir=os.getcwd()) as tmpdir:
+        tag = os.path.basename(tmpdir)
+        x2sys_init(tag=tag, fmtfile="xyz", force=True)
+        outfile = os.path.join(tmpdir, "tmp_coe.txt")
+        output = x2sys_cross(tracks=[fname], tag=tag, coe="i", outfile=outfile)
+
+        assert output is None  # check that output is None since outfile is set
+        assert os.path.exists(path=outfile)  # check that outfile exists at path
+        _ = pd.read_csv(outfile, sep="\t", header=2)  # ensure ASCII text file loads ok
+
+    return output
+
+
+def test_x2sys_cross_input_file_output_dataframe(
+    mock_x2sys_home,
+):  # pylint: disable=unused-argument
+    """
+    Run x2sys_cross by passing in a filename and output to a pandas.DataFrame
     """
     fname = which("@tut_ship.xyz", download="a")
     with TemporaryDirectory(prefix="X2SYS", dir=os.getcwd()) as tmpdir: