diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/admin/cluster/health/ClusterHealthResponse.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/admin/cluster/health/ClusterHealthResponse.java
index 56f594d9807..0347ab431ae 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/admin/cluster/health/ClusterHealthResponse.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/admin/cluster/health/ClusterHealthResponse.java
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.ToXContent;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentBuilderString;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentFactory;
 import org.elasticsearch.rest.RestStatus;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -234,22 +235,15 @@ public class ClusterHealthResponse extends ActionResponse implements Iterable<Cl
 
     @Override
     public String toString() {
-        StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder("ClusterHealthResponse - status [").append(status).append("]")
-                .append("\ntimedOut [").append(timedOut).append("]")
-                .append("\nclustername [").append(clusterName).append("]")
-                .append("\nnumberOfNodes [").append(numberOfNodes).append("]")
-                .append("\nnumberOfDataNodes [").append(numberOfDataNodes).append("]")
-                .append("\nactiveShards [").append(activeShards).append("]")
-                .append("\nrelocatingShards [").append(relocatingShards).append("]")
-                .append("\nactivePrimaryShards [").append(activePrimaryShards).append("]")
-                .append("\ninitializingShards [").append(initializingShards).append("]")
-                .append("\nvalidationFailures ").append(validationFailures)
-                .append("\nindices:");
-
-        for (Map.Entry<String, ClusterIndexHealth> indexEntry : indices.entrySet()) {
-            builder.append(" [").append(indexEntry.getKey()).append("][").append(indexEntry.getValue().status).append("]");
+        try {
+            XContentBuilder builder = XContentFactory.jsonBuilder().prettyPrint();
+            builder.startObject();
+            toXContent(builder, EMPTY_PARAMS);
+            builder.endObject();
+            return builder.string();
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            return "{ \"error\" : \"" + e.getMessage() + "\"}";
         }
-        return builder.toString();
     }
 
     static final class Fields {
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/hamcrest/ElasticsearchAssertions.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/hamcrest/ElasticsearchAssertions.java
index 95a06822e66..ed7e41a8c44 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/hamcrest/ElasticsearchAssertions.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/hamcrest/ElasticsearchAssertions.java
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ public class ElasticsearchAssertions {
     }
 
     public static void assertNoTimeout(ClusterHealthResponse response) {
-        assertThat("ClusterHealthResponse has timed out - returned status: [" + response.getStatus() + "]", response.isTimedOut(), is(false));
+        assertThat("ClusterHealthResponse has timed out - returned: [" + response + "]", response.isTimedOut(), is(false));
     }
 
     public static void assertAcked(AcknowledgedResponse response) {