diff --git a/salt/elasticsearch/template.map.jinja b/salt/elasticsearch/template.map.jinja
index 8168fec50..77c255c4c 100644
--- a/salt/elasticsearch/template.map.jinja
+++ b/salt/elasticsearch/template.map.jinja
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {% import_yaml 'elasticsearch/defaults.yaml' as ESCONFIG with context %}
 {%- set ES_INDEX_SETTINGS = salt['pillar.get']('elasticsearch:index_settings', default=ESCONFIG.elasticsearch.index_settings, merge=True) %}
 {% for index, settings in ES_INDEX_SETTINGS.items() %}
-  {% if settings.index_sorting, False %}
+  {% if not settings.get('index_sorting', False) | to_bool and settings.index_template.template.settings.index.sort is defined %}
     {% do settings.index_template.template.settings.index.pop('sort') %}
   {% endif %}
 {% endfor %}