diff --git a/lib/banzai/renderer.rb b/lib/banzai/renderer.rb
index c7801cb5baf7f3280b3b5ad506f673188df63b06..ad08c0905e22be8d5e8a8fc0f95e68145475a328 100644
--- a/lib/banzai/renderer.rb
+++ b/lib/banzai/renderer.rb
@@ -132,6 +132,8 @@ module Banzai
     end
 
     def self.cacheless_render(text, context = {})
+      return text.to_s unless text.present?
+
       Gitlab::Metrics.measure(:banzai_cacheless_render) do
         result = render_result(text, context)