diff --git a/doc/whats-new.rst b/doc/whats-new.rst
index c644f7615b7..00e969df160 100644
--- a/doc/whats-new.rst
+++ b/doc/whats-new.rst
@@ -71,7 +71,8 @@ Bug fixes
 - Warn and return bytes undecoded in case of UnicodeDecodeError in h5netcdf-backend
   (:issue:`5563`, :pull:`8874`).
   By `Kai Mühlbauer <https://github.com/kmuehlbauer>`_.
-
+- Fix a regression when saving dropped multi-indexes with the zarr backend (:pull:`8809`).
+  By `Sam Levang <https://github.com/slevang>`_.
 
 Documentation
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
diff --git a/xarray/backends/common.py b/xarray/backends/common.py
index f318b4dd42f..e094d35ec4b 100644
--- a/xarray/backends/common.py
+++ b/xarray/backends/common.py
@@ -329,11 +329,11 @@ def encode(self, variables, attributes):
         attributes : dict-like
 
         """
-        variables = {k: self.encode_variable(v) for k, v in variables.items()}
+        variables = {k: self.encode_variable(v, k) for k, v in variables.items()}
         attributes = {k: self.encode_attribute(v) for k, v in attributes.items()}
         return variables, attributes
 
-    def encode_variable(self, v):
+    def encode_variable(self, v, name: str | None = None):
         """encode one variable"""
         return v
 
@@ -480,7 +480,7 @@ def encode(self, variables, attributes):
         # All NetCDF files get CF encoded by default, without this attempting
         # to write times, for example, would fail.
         variables, attributes = cf_encoder(variables, attributes)
-        variables = {k: self.encode_variable(v) for k, v in variables.items()}
+        variables = {k: self.encode_variable(v, k) for k, v in variables.items()}
         attributes = {k: self.encode_attribute(v) for k, v in attributes.items()}
         return variables, attributes
 
diff --git a/xarray/backends/h5netcdf_.py b/xarray/backends/h5netcdf_.py
index 71463193939..ae297f93f9d 100644
--- a/xarray/backends/h5netcdf_.py
+++ b/xarray/backends/h5netcdf_.py
@@ -263,7 +263,7 @@ def set_dimension(self, name, length, is_unlimited=False):
     def set_attribute(self, key, value):
         self.ds.attrs[key] = value
 
-    def encode_variable(self, variable):
+    def encode_variable(self, variable, name):
         return _encode_nc4_variable(variable)
 
     def prepare_variable(
diff --git a/xarray/backends/netCDF4_.py b/xarray/backends/netCDF4_.py
index ae86c4ce384..0c9da18b88e 100644
--- a/xarray/backends/netCDF4_.py
+++ b/xarray/backends/netCDF4_.py
@@ -490,7 +490,7 @@ def set_attribute(self, key, value):
         else:
             self.ds.setncattr(key, value)
 
-    def encode_variable(self, variable):
+    def encode_variable(self, variable, name):
         variable = _force_native_endianness(variable)
         if self.format == "NETCDF4":
             variable = _encode_nc4_variable(variable)
diff --git a/xarray/backends/scipy_.py b/xarray/backends/scipy_.py
index f8c486e512c..c4343d380db 100644
--- a/xarray/backends/scipy_.py
+++ b/xarray/backends/scipy_.py
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ def set_attribute(self, key, value):
         value = encode_nc3_attr_value(value)
         setattr(self.ds, key, value)
 
-    def encode_variable(self, variable):
+    def encode_variable(self, variable, name):
         variable = encode_nc3_variable(variable)
         return variable
 
diff --git a/xarray/backends/zarr.py b/xarray/backends/zarr.py
index 13b1819f206..7c50d072691 100644
--- a/xarray/backends/zarr.py
+++ b/xarray/backends/zarr.py
@@ -569,8 +569,8 @@ def set_dimensions(self, variables, unlimited_dims=None):
     def set_attributes(self, attributes):
         _put_attrs(self.zarr_group, attributes)
 
-    def encode_variable(self, variable):
-        variable = encode_zarr_variable(variable)
+    def encode_variable(self, variable, name):
+        variable = encode_zarr_variable(variable, name=name)
         return variable
 
     def encode_attribute(self, a):
diff --git a/xarray/tests/test_backends.py b/xarray/tests/test_backends.py
index 1d69b3adc63..f80d1e70989 100644
--- a/xarray/tests/test_backends.py
+++ b/xarray/tests/test_backends.py
@@ -1257,6 +1257,16 @@ def test_multiindex_not_implemented(self) -> None:
         with self.roundtrip(ds_reset) as actual:
             assert_identical(actual, ds_reset)
 
+    def test_reset_multiindex_as_indexvariable(self) -> None:
+        # regression noted in https://github.com/xarray-contrib/xeofs/issues/148
+        ds = xr.Dataset(coords={"dim1": [1, 2, 3]})
+        ds = ds.stack(feature=["dim1"])
+        ds_reset = ds.reset_index("feature")
+        # Convert dim1 back to an IndexVariable, should still be able to serialize
+        ds_reset["dim1"] = ds_reset.dim1.variable.to_index_variable()
+        with self.roundtrip(ds_reset) as actual:
+            assert_identical(actual, ds_reset)
+
 
 class NetCDFBase(CFEncodedBase):
     """Tests for all netCDF3 and netCDF4 backends."""
diff --git a/xarray/tests/test_conventions.py b/xarray/tests/test_conventions.py
index fdfea3c3fe8..d9f0721de44 100644
--- a/xarray/tests/test_conventions.py
+++ b/xarray/tests/test_conventions.py
@@ -460,7 +460,7 @@ def test_decode_cf_time_kwargs(self) -> None:
 
 
 class CFEncodedInMemoryStore(WritableCFDataStore, InMemoryDataStore):
-    def encode_variable(self, var):
+    def encode_variable(self, var, name):
         """encode one variable"""
         coder = coding.strings.EncodedStringCoder(allows_unicode=True)
         var = coder.encode(var)