diff --git a/core/src/plugins/kubernetes/kubernetes-type/deploy.ts b/core/src/plugins/kubernetes/kubernetes-type/deploy.ts
index f7946c99ca..28727ebb2d 100644
--- a/core/src/plugins/kubernetes/kubernetes-type/deploy.ts
+++ b/core/src/plugins/kubernetes/kubernetes-type/deploy.ts
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import { uniq } from "lodash"
 import { DOCS_BASE_URL } from "../../../constants"
 import { kubernetesGetSyncStatus, kubernetesStartSync } from "./sync"
 import { k8sContainerStopSync } from "../container/sync"
+import { isTruthy } from "../../../util/util"
 
 export const kubernetesDeployDocs = dedent`
   Specify one or more Kubernetes manifests to deploy.
@@ -44,7 +45,8 @@ export const kubernetesDeployDefinition = (): DeployActionDefinition<KubernetesD
     configure: async ({ ctx, config }) => {
       // The `spec` field hasn't been validated here yet,
       // so the value of `files` might be `undefined` instead of a default empty array
-      let files = config.spec.files || []
+      // also we discard any falsy file values in files array
+      let files = (config.spec.files || []).filter(isTruthy)
 
       if (files.length > 0 && !config.spec.kustomize) {
         if (!config.include) {
diff --git a/core/test/data/test-projects/kubernetes-type-conditional-manifests/config.map-list/garden.yml b/core/test/data/test-projects/kubernetes-type-conditional-manifests/config.map-list/garden.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b346418863
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/test/data/test-projects/kubernetes-type-conditional-manifests/config.map-list/garden.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+kind: "Deploy"
+type: "kubernetes"
+name: "config-map-list"
+variables:
+  foo: false
+spec:
+  files:
+    - "${var.foo ? 'manifests.yaml' : null}"
diff --git a/core/test/data/test-projects/kubernetes-type-conditional-manifests/config.map-list/manifests.yaml b/core/test/data/test-projects/kubernetes-type-conditional-manifests/config.map-list/manifests.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1327f2da32
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/test/data/test-projects/kubernetes-type-conditional-manifests/config.map-list/manifests.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+apiVersion: v1
+items:
+  - apiVersion: v1
+    data:
+      foo.json: test
+    kind: ConfigMap
+    metadata:
+      name: foo
+  - apiVersion: v1
+    data:
+      bar.json: test
+    kind: ConfigMap
+    metadata:
+      name: bar
+  - apiVersion: v1
+    data:
+      baz.json: test
+    kind: ConfigMap
+    metadata:
+      name: baz
+kind: ConfigMapList
diff --git a/core/test/data/test-projects/kubernetes-type-conditional-manifests/garden.yml b/core/test/data/test-projects/kubernetes-type-conditional-manifests/garden.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9722c148c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/test/data/test-projects/kubernetes-type-conditional-manifests/garden.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+apiVersion: garden.io/v1
+kind: Project
+name: test-kubernetes-type-conditional-manifests
+environments:
+  - name: local
+providers:
+  - name: local-kubernetes
diff --git a/core/test/data/test-projects/kubernetes-type/config-map-list/manifests.yaml b/core/test/data/test-projects/kubernetes-type/config-map-list/manifests.yaml
index e09f886ec3..1327f2da32 100644
--- a/core/test/data/test-projects/kubernetes-type/config-map-list/manifests.yaml
+++ b/core/test/data/test-projects/kubernetes-type/config-map-list/manifests.yaml
@@ -1,21 +1,21 @@
 apiVersion: v1
 items:
-- apiVersion: v1
-  data:
-    foo.json: test
-  kind: ConfigMap
-  metadata:
-    name: foo
-- apiVersion: v1
-  data:
-    bar.json: test
-  kind: ConfigMap
-  metadata:
-    name: bar
-- apiVersion: v1
-  data:
-    baz.json: test
-  kind: ConfigMap
-  metadata:
-    name: baz
+  - apiVersion: v1
+    data:
+      foo.json: test
+    kind: ConfigMap
+    metadata:
+      name: foo
+  - apiVersion: v1
+    data:
+      bar.json: test
+    kind: ConfigMap
+    metadata:
+      name: bar
+  - apiVersion: v1
+    data:
+      baz.json: test
+    kind: ConfigMap
+    metadata:
+      name: baz
 kind: ConfigMapList
diff --git a/core/test/integ/src/plugins/kubernetes/kubernetes-type/config.ts b/core/test/integ/src/plugins/kubernetes/kubernetes-type/config.ts
index 3cde6ceb42..ba60bf59b7 100644
--- a/core/test/integ/src/plugins/kubernetes/kubernetes-type/config.ts
+++ b/core/test/integ/src/plugins/kubernetes/kubernetes-type/config.ts
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 import { expect } from "chai"
 import { cloneDeep } from "lodash"
 
-import { TestGarden } from "../../../../../helpers"
+import { TestGarden, getDataDir, makeTestGarden } from "../../../../../helpers"
 import { ModuleConfig } from "../../../../../../src/config/module"
 import { apply } from "json-merge-patch"
 import { getKubernetesTestGarden } from "./common"
@@ -174,3 +174,18 @@ describe("configureKubernetesModule", () => {
     expect(configExclude.include).to.be.undefined
   })
 })
+
+describe("configureKubernetesType", () => {
+  let garden: TestGarden
+
+  before(async () => {
+    const projectRoot = getDataDir("test-projects", "kubernetes-type-conditional-manifests")
+    garden = await makeTestGarden(projectRoot)
+  })
+
+  it("should resolve fine with null values for manifests in spec.files", async () => {
+    const graph = await garden.getConfigGraph({ log: garden.log, emit: false })
+    const action = graph.getDeploy("config-map-list")
+    expect(action["_config"].spec.files).to.eql([null])
+  })
+})