diff --git a/.changes/unreleased/Under the Hood-20220503-195212.yaml b/.changes/unreleased/Under the Hood-20220503-195212.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..63207fb5a15
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changes/unreleased/Under the Hood-20220503-195212.yaml	
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+kind: Under the Hood
+body: 'Fix: Call str and repr for UnsetProfileConfig without a RuntimeException'
+time: 2022-05-03T19:52:12.793729384+02:00
+custom:
+  Author: tomasfarias
+  Issue: "5081"
+  PR: "5209"
diff --git a/core/dbt/config/runtime.py b/core/dbt/config/runtime.py
index 1a2bba178b3..8cb1f71bb5b 100644
--- a/core/dbt/config/runtime.py
+++ b/core/dbt/config/runtime.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import itertools
 import os
 from copy import deepcopy
-from dataclasses import dataclass
+from dataclasses import dataclass, field
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Dict, Any, Optional, Mapping, Iterator, Iterable, Tuple, List, MutableSet, Type
 
@@ -417,6 +417,9 @@ class UnsetProfileConfig(RuntimeConfig):
     missing, any access to profile members results in an exception.
     """
 
+    profile_name: str = field(repr=False)
+    target_name: str = field(repr=False)
+
     def __post_init__(self):
         # instead of futzing with InitVar overrides or rewriting __init__, just
         # `del` the attrs we don't want  users touching.
@@ -437,6 +440,56 @@ def to_target_dict(self):
         # re-override the poisoned profile behavior
         return DictDefaultEmptyStr({})
 
+    def to_project_config(self, with_packages=False):
+        """Return a dict representation of the config that could be written to
+        disk with `yaml.safe_dump` to get this configuration.
+
+        Overrides dbt.config.Project.to_project_config to omit undefined profile
+        attributes.
+
+        :param with_packages bool: If True, include the serialized packages
+            file in the root.
+        :returns dict: The serialized profile.
+        """
+        result = deepcopy(
+            {
+                "name": self.project_name,
+                "version": self.version,
+                "project-root": self.project_root,
+                "profile": "",
+                "model-paths": self.model_paths,
+                "macro-paths": self.macro_paths,
+                "seed-paths": self.seed_paths,
+                "test-paths": self.test_paths,
+                "analysis-paths": self.analysis_paths,
+                "docs-paths": self.docs_paths,
+                "asset-paths": self.asset_paths,
+                "target-path": self.target_path,
+                "snapshot-paths": self.snapshot_paths,
+                "clean-targets": self.clean_targets,
+                "log-path": self.log_path,
+                "quoting": self.quoting,
+                "models": self.models,
+                "on-run-start": self.on_run_start,
+                "on-run-end": self.on_run_end,
+                "dispatch": self.dispatch,
+                "seeds": self.seeds,
+                "snapshots": self.snapshots,
+                "sources": self.sources,
+                "tests": self.tests,
+                "vars": self.vars.to_dict(),
+                "require-dbt-version": [v.to_version_string() for v in self.dbt_version],
+                "config-version": self.config_version,
+            }
+        )
+        if self.query_comment:
+            result["query-comment"] = self.query_comment.to_dict(omit_none=True)
+
+        if with_packages:
+            result.update(self.packages.to_dict(omit_none=True))
+
+        return result
+
     @classmethod
     def from_parts(
         cls,
diff --git a/test/unit/test_config.py b/test/unit/test_config.py
index eb92c8d54e2..8ca8238a7d0 100644
--- a/test/unit/test_config.py
+++ b/test/unit/test_config.py
@@ -317,7 +317,7 @@ def test_extra_path(self):
             'model-paths': ['models'],
             'source-paths': ['other-models'],
         })
-        with self.assertRaises(dbt.exceptions.DbtProjectError) as exc:            
+        with self.assertRaises(dbt.exceptions.DbtProjectError) as exc:
             project = project_from_config_norender(self.default_project_data)
 
         self.assertIn('source-paths and model-paths', str(exc.exception))
@@ -1230,6 +1230,45 @@ def test_from_args(self):
         self.assertEqual(config.project_name, 'my_test_project')
 
 
+class TestUnsetProfileConfig(BaseConfigTest):
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.profiles_dir = '/invalid-profiles-path'
+        self.project_dir = '/invalid-root-path'
+        super().setUp()
+        self.default_project_data['project-root'] = self.project_dir
+
+    def get_project(self):
+        return project_from_config_norender(self.default_project_data, verify_version=self.args.version_check)
+
+    def get_profile(self):
+        renderer = empty_profile_renderer()
+        return dbt.config.Profile.from_raw_profiles(
+            self.default_profile_data, self.default_project_data['profile'], renderer
+        )
+
+    def test_str(self):
+        project = self.get_project()
+        profile = self.get_profile()
+        config = dbt.config.UnsetProfileConfig.from_parts(project, profile, {})
+
+        str(config)
+
+    def test_repr(self):
+        project = self.get_project()
+        profile = self.get_profile()
+        config = dbt.config.UnsetProfileConfig.from_parts(project, profile, {})
+
+        repr(config)
+
+    def test_to_project_config(self):
+        project = self.get_project()
+        profile = self.get_profile()
+        config = dbt.config.UnsetProfileConfig.from_parts(project, profile, {})
+        project_config = config.to_project_config()
+
+        self.assertEqual(project_config["profile"], "")
+
+
 class TestVariableRuntimeConfigFiles(BaseFileTest):
     def setUp(self):
         super().setUp()