diff --git a/controllers/nginx/pkg/config/config.go b/controllers/nginx/pkg/config/config.go
index 8bc2fd70a3..0c23d8a273 100644
--- a/controllers/nginx/pkg/config/config.go
+++ b/controllers/nginx/pkg/config/config.go
@@ -175,6 +175,10 @@ type Configuration struct {
 	// Default: 4 8k
 	LargeClientHeaderBuffers string `json:"large-client-header-buffers"`
 
+	// Enable json escaping
+	// http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_log_module.html#log_format
+	LogFormatEscapeJson bool `json:"log-format-escape-json,omitempty"`
+
 	// Customize upstream log_format
 	// http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_log_module.html#log_format
 	LogFormatUpstream string `json:"log-format-upstream,omitempty"`
@@ -311,6 +315,7 @@ func NewDefault() Configuration {
 		KeepAlive:                75,
 		KeepAliveRequests:        100,
 		LargeClientHeaderBuffers: "4 8k",
+		LogFormatEscapeJson:      false,
 		LogFormatStream:          logFormatStream,
 		LogFormatUpstream:        logFormatUpstream,
 		MaxWorkerConnections:     16384,
diff --git a/controllers/nginx/rootfs/etc/nginx/template/nginx.tmpl b/controllers/nginx/rootfs/etc/nginx/template/nginx.tmpl
index 1e118d67e1..74def1cc2f 100644
--- a/controllers/nginx/rootfs/etc/nginx/template/nginx.tmpl
+++ b/controllers/nginx/rootfs/etc/nginx/template/nginx.tmpl
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ http {
     # disable warnings
     uninitialized_variable_warn off;
 
-    log_format upstreaminfo '{{ buildLogFormatUpstream $cfg }}';
+    log_format upstreaminfo {{ if $cfg.LogFormatEscapeJson }}escape=json {{ end }}'{{ buildLogFormatUpstream $cfg }}';
 
     {{/* map urls that should not appear in access.log */}}
     {{/* http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_log_module.html#access_log */}}