diff --git a/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/input/http/ExecutableHttpInput.java b/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/input/http/ExecutableHttpInput.java
index eba6e4bcc41..93c8b991740 100644
--- a/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/input/http/ExecutableHttpInput.java
+++ b/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/input/http/ExecutableHttpInput.java
@@ -83,7 +83,13 @@ public class ExecutableHttpInput extends ExecutableInput<HttpInput, HttpInput.Re
                 if (input.getExtractKeys() != null) {
                     payloadMap.putAll(XContentFilterKeysUtils.filterMapOrdered(input.getExtractKeys(), parser));
                 } else {
-                    payloadMap.putAll(parser.mapOrdered());
+                    // special handling if a list is returned, i.e. JSON like [ {},{} ]
+                    XContentParser.Token token = parser.nextToken();
+                    if (token == XContentParser.Token.START_ARRAY) {
+                        payloadMap.put("data", parser.listOrderedMap());
+                    } else {
+                        payloadMap.putAll(parser.mapOrdered());
+                    }
                 }
             } catch (Exception e) {
                 throw new ElasticsearchParseException("could not parse response body [{}] it does not appear to be [{}]", type(), ctx.id(),
diff --git a/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/input/http/HttpInputTests.java b/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/input/http/HttpInputTests.java
index 8aed2db52d1..525fd77b56c 100644
--- a/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/input/http/HttpInputTests.java
+++ b/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/input/http/HttpInputTests.java
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 package org.elasticsearch.xpack.watcher.input.http;
 
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpHeaders;
-
 import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesReference;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.collect.MapBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
@@ -45,6 +44,7 @@ import org.junit.Before;
 
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Locale;
@@ -56,6 +56,8 @@ import static org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentFactory.jsonBuilder;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.hasEntry;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.hasKey;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.hasSize;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.instanceOf;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.is;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.not;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.nullValue;
@@ -301,6 +303,29 @@ public class HttpInputTests extends ESTestCase {
         assertThat(result.payload().data().get("_status_code"), is(200));
     }
 
+    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
+    public void testThatArrayJsonResponseIsHandled() throws Exception {
+        Map<String, String[]> headers = Collections.singletonMap("Content-Type", new String[]{"application/json"});
+        HttpResponse response = new HttpResponse(200, "[ { \"foo\":  \"first\" }, {  \"foo\":  \"second\"}]", headers);
+        when(httpClient.execute(any(HttpRequest.class))).thenReturn(response);
+
+        HttpRequestTemplate.Builder request = HttpRequestTemplate.builder("localhost", 8080);
+        HttpInput httpInput = InputBuilders.httpInput(request.build()).build();
+        ExecutableHttpInput input = new ExecutableHttpInput(httpInput, logger, httpClient, templateEngine);
+
+        WatchExecutionContext ctx = createWatchExecutionContext();
+        HttpInput.Result result = input.execute(ctx, new Payload.Simple());
+        assertThat(result.statusCode, is(200));
+        assertThat(result.payload().data(), not(hasKey("_value")));
+        assertThat(result.payload().data(), hasKey("data"));
+        assertThat(result.payload().data().get("data"), instanceOf(List.class));
+        List<Map<String, String>> data = (List<Map<String, String>>) result.payload().data().get("data");
+        assertThat(data, hasSize(2));
+        assertThat(data.get(0).get("foo"), is("first"));
+        assertThat(data.get(1).get("foo"), is("second"));
+    }
+
+
     private WatchExecutionContext createWatchExecutionContext() {
         Watch watch = new Watch("test-watch",
                 new ScheduleTrigger(new IntervalSchedule(new IntervalSchedule.Interval(1, IntervalSchedule.Interval.Unit.MINUTES))),