diff --git a/packer/config_template_test.go b/packer/config_template_test.go
index 4c4864cda..817868bbf 100644
--- a/packer/config_template_test.go
+++ b/packer/config_template_test.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"strconv"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
+	"encoding/json"
 )
 
 func TestConfigTemplateProcess_timestamp(t *testing.T) {
@@ -47,6 +48,39 @@ func TestConfigTemplateProcess_user(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestJsonTemplateProcess_user(t *testing.T) {
+	tpl, err := NewConfigTemplate()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
+	}
+
+	tpl.UserVars["foo"] = "bar"
+	jsonData := make(map[string]interface{})
+    jsonData["key"] = map[string]string{
+        "key1": "{{user `foo`}}",
+    }
+	jsonBytes, err := json.MarshalIndent(jsonData, "", "  ")
+	if err != nil {
+        t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
+	}
+    var jsonString = string(jsonBytes)
+
+    result, err := tpl.Process(jsonString, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
+	}
+    var dat map[string]map[string]interface{}
+    if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(result), &dat); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
+    }
+
+    if dat["key"]["key1"] != "bar" {
+        t.Fatalf("found %s instead", dat["key"]["key1"])
+    }
+
+}
+
+
 func TestConfigTemplateValidate(t *testing.T) {
 	tpl, err := NewConfigTemplate()
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/provisioner/chef-solo/provisioner.go b/provisioner/chef-solo/provisioner.go
index e8bf05e25..05c1836a2 100644
--- a/provisioner/chef-solo/provisioner.go
+++ b/provisioner/chef-solo/provisioner.go
@@ -95,7 +95,6 @@ func (p *Provisioner) Prepare(raws ...interface{}) error {
 	sliceTemplates := map[string][]string{
 		"cookbook_paths":        p.config.CookbookPaths,
 		"remote_cookbook_paths": p.config.RemoteCookbookPaths,
-		"run_list":              p.config.RunList,
 	}
 
 	for n, slice := range sliceTemplates {
@@ -236,10 +235,17 @@ func (p *Provisioner) createJson(ui packer.Ui, comm packer.Communicator) (string
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", err
 	}
+    var jsonString = string(jsonBytes)
+    println(jsonString)
+
+    result, err := p.config.tpl.Process(jsonString, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
 
 	// Upload the bytes
 	remotePath := filepath.Join(p.config.StagingDir, "node.json")
-	if err := comm.Upload(remotePath, bytes.NewReader(jsonBytes)); err != nil {
+	if err := comm.Upload(remotePath, bytes.NewReader([]byte(result))); err != nil {
 		return "", err
 	}