diff --git a/elasticsearch/x-pack/watcher/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/support/http/HttpClient.java b/elasticsearch/x-pack/watcher/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/support/http/HttpClient.java
index cdfc94a1e31..f9af31b5e90 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/x-pack/watcher/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/support/http/HttpClient.java
+++ b/elasticsearch/x-pack/watcher/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/support/http/HttpClient.java
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ package org.elasticsearch.watcher.support.http;
 
 import org.elasticsearch.ElasticsearchException;
 import org.elasticsearch.ElasticsearchTimeoutException;
-import org.elasticsearch.ExceptionsHelper;
 import org.elasticsearch.SpecialPermission;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.component.AbstractLifecycleComponent;
@@ -31,9 +30,8 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
 import java.net.SocketTimeoutException;
-import java.net.URI;
-import java.net.URISyntaxException;
 import java.net.URL;
+import java.net.URLEncoder;
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.nio.file.Files;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
@@ -137,20 +135,18 @@ public class HttpClient extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<HttpClient> {
                 if (builder.length() != 0) {
                     builder.append('&');
                 }
-                builder.append(entry.getKey())
+                builder.append(URLEncoder.encode(entry.getKey(), "UTF-8"))
                         .append('=')
-                        .append(entry.getValue());
+                        .append(URLEncoder.encode(entry.getValue(), "UTF-8"));
             }
             queryString = builder.toString();
         }
 
-        URI uri;
-        try {
-            uri = new URI(request.scheme().scheme(), null, request.host(), request.port(), request.path(), queryString, null);
-        } catch (URISyntaxException e) {
-            throw ExceptionsHelper.convertToElastic(e);
+        String path = request.path;
+        if (Strings.hasLength(queryString)) {
+            path += "?" + queryString;
         }
-        URL url = uri.toURL();
+        URL url = new URL(request.scheme.scheme(), request.host, request.port, path);
 
         logger.debug("making [{}] request to [{}]", request.method().method(), url);
         logger.trace("sending [{}] as body of request", request.body());
diff --git a/elasticsearch/x-pack/watcher/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/support/http/HttpClientTests.java b/elasticsearch/x-pack/watcher/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/support/http/HttpClientTests.java
index 22fc3d280e0..7837a92ab38 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/x-pack/watcher/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/support/http/HttpClientTests.java
+++ b/elasticsearch/x-pack/watcher/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/watcher/support/http/HttpClientTests.java
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ import java.security.UnrecoverableKeyException;
 import static java.util.Collections.singletonMap;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.containsString;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.not;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.notNullValue;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.nullValue;
 import static org.hamcrest.core.Is.is;
@@ -116,7 +117,7 @@ public class HttpClientTests extends ESTestCase {
         assertThat(recordedRequest.getBody().readUtf8Line(), nullValue());
     }
 
-    public void testUrlEncoding() throws Exception{
+    public void testUrlEncodingWithQueryStrings() throws Exception{
         webServer.enqueue(new MockResponse().setResponseCode(200).setBody("body"));
         HttpRequest.Builder requestBuilder = HttpRequest.builder("localhost", webPort)
                 .method(HttpMethod.GET)
@@ -128,7 +129,7 @@ public class HttpClientTests extends ESTestCase {
         assertThat(response.body().toUtf8(), equalTo("body"));
 
         RecordedRequest recordedRequest = webServer.takeRequest();
-        assertThat(recordedRequest.getPath(), equalTo("/test?key=value%20123:123"));
+        assertThat(recordedRequest.getPath(), equalTo("/test?key=value+123%3A123"));
         assertThat(recordedRequest.getBody().readUtf8Line(), nullValue());
     }
 
@@ -358,6 +359,21 @@ public class HttpClientTests extends ESTestCase {
         }
     }
 
+    public void testThatUrlPathIsNotEncoded() throws Exception {
+        // %2F is a slash that needs to be encoded to not be misinterpreted as a path
+        String path = "/<logstash-{now%2Fd}>/_search";
+        webServer.enqueue(new MockResponse().setResponseCode(200).setBody("foo"));
+        HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.builder("localhost", webServer.getPort()).path(path).build();
+        httpClient.execute(request);
+
+        assertThat(webServer.getRequestCount(), is(1));
+
+        RecordedRequest recordedRequest = webServer.takeRequest();
+        // under no circumstances have a double encode of %2F => %25 (percent sign)
+        assertThat(recordedRequest.getPath(), not(containsString("%25")));
+        assertThat(recordedRequest.getPath(), equalTo(path));
+    }
+
     private MockWebServer startWebServer(int startPort, int endPort) throws IOException {
         for (int port = startPort; port < endPort; port++) {
             try {