diff --git a/panel/models/tabulator.ts b/panel/models/tabulator.ts
index b1beab112c..77af2cecdb 100644
--- a/panel/models/tabulator.ts
+++ b/panel/models/tabulator.ts
@@ -340,6 +340,8 @@ export class DataTabulatorView extends PanelHTMLBoxView {
         else {
           tab_column.formatter = (cell: any) => {
             const formatted = column.formatter.doFormat(cell.getRow(), cell, cell.getValue(), null, null)
+            if (column.formatter.type === 'HTMLTemplateFormatter')
+              return formatted
             const node = div()
             node.innerHTML = formatted
             return node.children[0].innerHTML