diff --git a/builtin/providers/digitalocean/resource_digitalocean_droplet.go b/builtin/providers/digitalocean/resource_digitalocean_droplet.go
index 4dbb77ab73d6..ef25b0074137 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/digitalocean/resource_digitalocean_droplet.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/digitalocean/resource_digitalocean_droplet.go
@@ -100,6 +100,7 @@ func resourceDigitalOceanDroplet() *schema.Resource {
 			"user_data": &schema.Schema{
 				Type:     schema.TypeString,
 				Optional: true,
+				ForceNew: true,
 			},
 		},
 	}
diff --git a/builtin/providers/digitalocean/resource_digitalocean_droplet_test.go b/builtin/providers/digitalocean/resource_digitalocean_droplet_test.go
index 730718c3f45f..7f85034cb3d4 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/digitalocean/resource_digitalocean_droplet_test.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/digitalocean/resource_digitalocean_droplet_test.go
@@ -71,6 +71,36 @@ func TestAccDigitalOceanDroplet_Update(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 }
 
+func TestAccDigitalOceanDroplet_UpdateUserData(t *testing.T) {
+	var droplet godo.Droplet
+
+	resource.Test(t, resource.TestCase{
+		PreCheck:     func() { testAccPreCheck(t) },
+		Providers:    testAccProviders,
+		CheckDestroy: testAccCheckDigitalOceanDropletDestroy,
+		Steps: []resource.TestStep{
+			resource.TestStep{
+				Config: testAccCheckDigitalOceanDropletConfig_basic,
+				Check: resource.ComposeTestCheckFunc(
+					testAccCheckDigitalOceanDropletExists("digitalocean_droplet.foobar", &droplet),
+					testAccCheckDigitalOceanDropletAttributes(&droplet),
+				),
+			},
+
+			resource.TestStep{
+				Config: testAccCheckDigitalOceanDropletConfig_userdata_update,
+				Check: resource.ComposeTestCheckFunc(
+					testAccCheckDigitalOceanDropletExists("digitalocean_droplet.foobar", &droplet),
+					resource.TestCheckResourceAttr(
+						"digitalocean_droplet.foobar",
+						"user_data",
+						"foobar foobar"),
+				),
+			},
+		},
+	})
+}
+
 func TestAccDigitalOceanDroplet_PrivateNetworkingIpv6(t *testing.T) {
 	var droplet godo.Droplet
 
@@ -261,6 +291,16 @@ resource "digitalocean_droplet" "foobar" {
 }
 `
 
+const testAccCheckDigitalOceanDropletConfig_userdata_update = `
+resource "digitalocean_droplet" "foobar" {
+    name = "foo"
+    size = "512mb"
+    image = "centos-5-8-x32"
+    region = "nyc3"
+    user_data  = "foobar foobar"
+}
+`
+
 const testAccCheckDigitalOceanDropletConfig_RenameAndResize = `
 resource "digitalocean_droplet" "foobar" {
     name = "baz"