diff --git a/packages/core/src/render3/view_ref.ts b/packages/core/src/render3/view_ref.ts
index a25468d911..95539e1b5b 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/render3/view_ref.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/render3/view_ref.ts
@@ -12,10 +12,10 @@ import {ViewContainerRef as viewEngine_ViewContainerRef} from '../linker/view_co
 import {EmbeddedViewRef as viewEngine_EmbeddedViewRef, InternalViewRef as viewEngine_InternalViewRef} from '../linker/view_ref';
 
 import {checkNoChangesInRootView, checkNoChangesInternal, detectChangesInRootView, detectChangesInternal, markViewDirty, storeCleanupFn} from './instructions';
-import {TNode, TNodeType, TViewNode} from './interfaces/node';
-import {FLAGS, HOST, LView, LViewFlags, PARENT, T_HOST} from './interfaces/view';
+import {TElementNode, TNode, TNodeType, TViewNode} from './interfaces/node';
+import {FLAGS, HOST, LView, LViewFlags, T_HOST} from './interfaces/view';
 import {destroyLView} from './node_manipulation';
-import {getLViewParent} from './util/view_traversal_utils';
+import {findComponentView, getLViewParent} from './util/view_traversal_utils';
 import {getNativeByTNode} from './util/view_utils';
 
 
@@ -291,9 +291,21 @@ function collectNativeNodes(lView: LView, parentTNode: TNode, result: any[]): an
   let tNodeChild = parentTNode.child;
 
   while (tNodeChild) {
-    result.push(getNativeByTNode(tNodeChild, lView));
+    const nativeNode = getNativeByTNode(tNodeChild, lView);
+    nativeNode && result.push(nativeNode);
     if (tNodeChild.type === TNodeType.ElementContainer) {
       collectNativeNodes(lView, tNodeChild, result);
+    } else if (tNodeChild.type === TNodeType.Projection) {
+      const componentView = findComponentView(lView);
+      const componentHost = componentView[T_HOST] as TElementNode;
+      const parentView = getLViewParent(componentView);
+      let currentProjectedNode: TNode|null =
+          (componentHost.projection as(TNode | null)[])[tNodeChild.projection as number];
+
+      while (currentProjectedNode && parentView) {
+        result.push(getNativeByTNode(currentProjectedNode, parentView));
+        currentProjectedNode = currentProjectedNode.next;
+      }
     }
     tNodeChild = tNodeChild.next;
   }
diff --git a/packages/core/test/acceptance/template_ref_spec.ts b/packages/core/test/acceptance/template_ref_spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..981cc43bac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/core/test/acceptance/template_ref_spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+/**
+ * @license
+ * Copyright Google Inc. All Rights Reserved.
+ *
+ * Use of this source code is governed by an MIT-style license that can be
+ * found in the LICENSE file at https://angular.io/license
+ */
+
+import {Component, TemplateRef, ViewChild, ViewContainerRef} from '@angular/core';
+import {TestBed} from '@angular/core/testing';
+import {expect} from '@angular/platform-browser/testing/src/matchers';
+
+describe('TemplateRef', () => {
+  describe('rootNodes', () => {
+    it('should include projected nodes in rootNodes', () => {
+      @Component({
+        selector: 'menu-content',
+        template: `
+          <ng-template>
+            Header
+            <ng-content></ng-content>
+          </ng-template>
+        `,
+        exportAs: 'menuContent'
+      })
+      class MenuContent {
+        @ViewChild(TemplateRef) template !: TemplateRef<any>;
+      }
+
+      @Component({
+        template: `
+          <menu-content #menu="menuContent">
+            <button>Item one</button>
+            <button>Item two</button>
+          </menu-content>
+        `
+      })
+      class App {
+        @ViewChild(MenuContent) content !: MenuContent;
+
+        constructor(public viewContainerRef: ViewContainerRef) {}
+      }
+
+      TestBed.configureTestingModule({declarations: [MenuContent, App]});
+      const fixture = TestBed.createComponent(App);
+      fixture.detectChanges();
+
+      const instance = fixture.componentInstance;
+      const viewRef = instance.viewContainerRef.createEmbeddedView(instance.content.template);
+      const rootNodeTextContent = viewRef.rootNodes.map(node => node && node.textContent.trim())
+                                      .filter(text => text !== '');
+
+      expect(rootNodeTextContent).toEqual(['Header', 'Item one', 'Item two']);
+    });
+  });
+
+});
diff --git a/tools/material-ci/angular_material_test_blocklist.js b/tools/material-ci/angular_material_test_blocklist.js
index 092c0a5e3c..e924cf2ff4 100644
--- a/tools/material-ci/angular_material_test_blocklist.js
+++ b/tools/material-ci/angular_material_test_blocklist.js
@@ -685,10 +685,6 @@ window.testBlocklist = {
     "error": "Error: Expected null to be 'mat-dialog-title-12', 'Expected the aria-labelledby to match the title id.'.",
     "notes": "FW-1097: Static host classes and styles don't work on root component"
   },
-  "MatMenu should open a custom menu": {
-    "error": "Error: Expected function not to throw an Error, but it threw TypeError.",
-    "notes": "Unknown"
-  },
   "MatMenu should close the menu when using the CloseScrollStrategy": {
     "error": "TypeError: Cannot read property 'openMenu' of undefined",
     "notes": "Unknown"