diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/__init__.py
index c10d19cd38..03558df986 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/__init__.py
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ class PluginLoader:
 
         if config and not isinstance(config, list):
             config = [config]
-        else:
+        elif not config:
             config = []
 
         self.config = config
diff --git a/test/units/plugins/test_plugins.py b/test/units/plugins/test_plugins.py
index 76a2600f53..3543cbc230 100644
--- a/test/units/plugins/test_plugins.py
+++ b/test/units/plugins/test_plugins.py
@@ -75,3 +75,7 @@ class TestErrors(unittest.TestCase):
         #with patch('glob.glob', mock_glob):
         #    pass
 
+    def test_plugin__config(self):
+        config = ['/one', '/two']
+        pl = PluginLoader('test', '', config, 'test_plugin')
+        self.assertEqual(pl.config, config)