diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 34901e52..e5d73d36 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -82,6 +82,14 @@ static_metadata:
 # - ...
 ```
 
+#### Forwarding recorded metrics
+
+The [suggested format](https://prometheus.io/docs/practices/rules/) for Prometheus metrics generated by recording rules is `level:metric:operation`, but that name format is not compatible with Stackdriver: Stackdriver's [metric name rules](https://cloud.google.com/monitoring/api/v3/metrics-details#label_names) specify that only upper and lowercase letters, digits and underscores may be used in metric names.
+
+The sidecar will, therefore, treat any Prometheus metric name prefixed with the value of the `--stackdriver.recorded-metric-prefix` flag (by default, `recorded_`) as a recorded metric, which will be created as a gauge on the Stackdriver side.  
+
+Note also that it is not currently possible to forward recorded metrics that lack an `instance` and `job` label, as those tags are used as cache keys.
+
 #### Counter Aggregator
 
 Counter Aggregator is an advanced feature of the sidecar that can be used to export a sum of multiple Prometheus counters to Stackdriver as a single CUMULATIVE metric.
diff --git a/cmd/stackdriver-prometheus-sidecar/main.go b/cmd/stackdriver-prometheus-sidecar/main.go
index 4d237a1d..61044920 100644
--- a/cmd/stackdriver-prometheus-sidecar/main.go
+++ b/cmd/stackdriver-prometheus-sidecar/main.go
@@ -182,6 +182,7 @@ type mainConfig struct {
 	GenericLabels         genericConfig
 	StackdriverAddress    *url.URL
 	MetricsPrefix         string
+	RecordedMetricPrefix  string
 	UseGKEResource        bool
 	StoreInFilesDirectory string
 	WALDirectory          string
@@ -240,6 +241,9 @@ func main() {
 	a.Flag("stackdriver.metrics-prefix", "Customized prefix for Stackdriver metrics. If not set, external.googleapis.com/prometheus will be used").
 		StringVar(&cfg.MetricsPrefix)
 
+	a.Flag("stackdriver.recorded-metric-prefix", "Prometheus metric name prefix used to detect recorded metrics. If not set, 'recorded_' will be used.").
+		StringVar(&cfg.RecordedMetricPrefix)
+
 	a.Flag("stackdriver.use-gke-resource",
 		"Whether to use the legacy gke_container MonitoredResource type instead of k8s_container").
 		Default("false").BoolVar(&cfg.UseGKEResource)
@@ -383,7 +387,7 @@ func main() {
 	if err != nil {
 		panic(err)
 	}
-	metadataCache := metadata.NewCache(httpClient, metadataURL, cfg.StaticMetadata)
+	metadataCache := metadata.NewCache(httpClient, metadataURL, cfg.RecordedMetricPrefix, cfg.StaticMetadata)
 
 	// We instantiate a context here since the tailer is used by two other components.
 	// The context will be used in the lifecycle of prometheusReader further down.
diff --git a/metadata/cache.go b/metadata/cache.go
index 703e8628..692a4c12 100644
--- a/metadata/cache.go
+++ b/metadata/cache.go
@@ -37,9 +37,10 @@ type Cache struct {
 	promURL *url.URL
 	client  *http.Client
 
-	metadata       map[string]*metadataEntry
-	seenJobs       map[string]struct{}
-	staticMetadata map[string]scrape.MetricMetadata
+	metadata             map[string]*metadataEntry
+	seenJobs             map[string]struct{}
+	staticMetadata       map[string]scrape.MetricMetadata
+	recordedMetricPrefix string
 }
 
 // DefaultEndpointPath is the default HTTP path on which Prometheus serves
@@ -53,16 +54,17 @@ const MetricTypeUntyped = "untyped"
 // NewCache returns a new cache that gets populated by the metadata endpoint
 // at the given URL.
 // It uses the default endpoint path if no specific path is provided.
-func NewCache(client *http.Client, promURL *url.URL, staticMetadata []scrape.MetricMetadata) *Cache {
+func NewCache(client *http.Client, promURL *url.URL, recordedMetricPrefix string, staticMetadata []scrape.MetricMetadata) *Cache {
 	if client == nil {
 		client = http.DefaultClient
 	}
 	c := &Cache{
-		promURL:        promURL,
-		client:         client,
-		staticMetadata: map[string]scrape.MetricMetadata{},
-		metadata:       map[string]*metadataEntry{},
-		seenJobs:       map[string]struct{}{},
+		promURL:              promURL,
+		client:               client,
+		recordedMetricPrefix: recordedMetricPrefix,
+		staticMetadata:       map[string]scrape.MetricMetadata{},
+		metadata:             map[string]*metadataEntry{},
+		seenJobs:             map[string]struct{}{},
 	}
 	for _, m := range staticMetadata {
 		c.staticMetadata[m.Metric] = m
@@ -121,10 +123,18 @@ func (c *Cache) Get(ctx context.Context, job, instance, metric string) (*scrape.
 	if md != nil && md.found {
 		return &md.MetricMetadata, nil
 	}
-	// The metric might also be produced by a recording rule, which by convention
-	// contain at least one `:` character. In that case we can generally assume that
-	// it is a gauge. We leave the help text empty.
+
+	// The suggested format for recorded metric names is `level:metric:operation`,
+	// but stackdriver metric names cannot have colon characters in them, so
+	// return an error.
 	if strings.Contains(metric, ":") {
+		return nil, errors.New(fmt.Sprintf("metric name '%s' cannot be forwarded due to illegal characters", metric))
+	}
+
+	// Treat metric names prefixed with the flagged prefix as recorded metrics. In that
+	// case we can generally assume that it is a gauge. We leave the help text
+	// empty.
+	if strings.HasPrefix(metric, c.recordedMetricPrefix) {
 		return &scrape.MetricMetadata{
 			Metric: metric,
 			Type:   textparse.MetricTypeGauge,
diff --git a/metadata/cache_test.go b/metadata/cache_test.go
index 7564d610..6bbb077a 100644
--- a/metadata/cache_test.go
+++ b/metadata/cache_test.go
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ func TestCache_Get(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
 	// Create cache with static metadata.
-	c := NewCache(nil, u, []scrape.MetricMetadata{
+	c := NewCache(nil, u, "recorded_", []scrape.MetricMetadata{
 		{Metric: "static_metric1", Type: textparse.MetricTypeCounter, Help: "help_static1"},
 		{Metric: "static_metric2", Type: textparse.MetricTypeCounter, Help: "help_static2"},
 		{Metric: "metric_with_override", Type: textparse.MetricTypeCounter, Help: "help_metric_override"},
@@ -237,17 +237,26 @@ func TestCache_Get(t *testing.T) {
 	handler = func(qMetric, qMatch string) *apiResponse {
 		return nil
 	}
-	md, err = c.Get(ctx, "prometheus", "localhost:9090", "some:recording:rule")
+	md, err = c.Get(ctx, "prometheus", "localhost:9090", "recorded_some_rule")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
 	want = &scrape.MetricMetadata{
-		Metric: "some:recording:rule",
+		Metric: "recorded_some_rule",
 		Type:   textparse.MetricTypeGauge,
 	}
 	if !reflect.DeepEqual(md, want) {
 		t.Fatalf("expected metadata %v but got %v", want, md)
 	}
+
+	// Test prometheus-style recording rule
+	handler = func(qMetric, qMatch string) *apiResponse {
+		return nil
+	}
+	md, err = c.Get(ctx, "prometheus", "localhost:9090", "some:recording:rule")
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
 }
 
 func TestNewCache(t *testing.T) {
@@ -255,7 +264,7 @@ func TestNewCache(t *testing.T) {
 		{Metric: "a", Help: "a"},
 		{Metric: "b", Help: "b"},
 	}
-	c := NewCache(nil, nil, static)
+	c := NewCache(nil, nil, "recorded_", static)
 
 	want := map[string]scrape.MetricMetadata{
 		"a": {Metric: "a", Help: "a"},
diff --git a/targets/cache.go b/targets/cache.go
index 17789d2f..db5386af 100644
--- a/targets/cache.go
+++ b/targets/cache.go
@@ -179,7 +179,8 @@ func targetMatch(targets []*Target, lset labels.Labels) (*Target, bool) {
 Outer:
 	for _, t := range targets {
 		for _, tl := range t.Labels {
-			if lset.Get(tl.Name) != tl.Value {
+			v := lset.Get(tl.Name)
+			if v != "" && v != tl.Value {
 				continue Outer
 			}
 		}