diff --git a/nginx/servers_config.sls b/nginx/servers_config.sls
index 5dd11a9e..dc7abe13 100644
--- a/nginx/servers_config.sls
+++ b/nginx/servers_config.sls
@@ -10,8 +10,8 @@
 {% set server_states = [] %}
 {#- _nginx is a lightened copy of nginx map intended to passed in templates #}
 {%- set _nginx = nginx.copy() %}
-{%- do _nginx.pop('snippets') %}
-{%- do _nginx.pop('servers') %}
+{%- do _nginx.pop('snippets') if nginx.snippets is defined %}
+{%- do _nginx.pop('servers') if nginx.servers is defined%}
 
 # Simple path concatenation.
 # Needs work to make this function on windows.
diff --git a/nginx/snippets.sls b/nginx/snippets.sls
index d09ba366..f19905ba 100644
--- a/nginx/snippets.sls
+++ b/nginx/snippets.sls
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@
 
 {#- _nginx is a lightened copy of nginx map intended to passed in templates #}
 {%- set _nginx = nginx.copy() %}
-{%- do _nginx.pop('snippets') %}
-{%- do _nginx.pop('servers') %}
+{%- do _nginx.pop('snippets') if nginx.snippets is defined %}
+{%- do _nginx.pop('servers') if nginx.servers is defined %}
 
 nginx_snippets_dir:
   file.directory:
diff --git a/test/salt/passenger/pillar/nginx.sls b/test/salt/passenger/pillar/nginx.sls
index 63a9f544..c8d90d48 100644
--- a/test/salt/passenger/pillar/nginx.sls
+++ b/test/salt/passenger/pillar/nginx.sls
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 # vim: ft=yaml
 ---
 # Simple pillar setup
-# - snippet letsencrypt
 # - remove 'default' site
 # - create 'mysite' site
 
@@ -21,10 +20,6 @@ nginx:
   lookup:
     passenger_package: {{ passenger_pkg }}
 
-  snippets:
-    letsencrypt.conf:
-      - location ^~ /.well-known/acme-challenge/:
-          - proxy_pass: http://localhost:9999
   server:
     config:
       # This is required to get the passenger module loaded
@@ -63,4 +58,3 @@ nginx:
               - index: 'index.html index.htm'
               - location ~ .htm:
                   - try_files: '$uri $uri/ =404'
-              - include: '/etc/nginx/snippets/letsencrypt.conf'