diff --git a/java/com/google/gerrit/acceptance/testsuite/project/ProjectOperationsImpl.java b/java/com/google/gerrit/acceptance/testsuite/project/ProjectOperationsImpl.java
index dede7e0c68..21bfcd1b8a 100644
--- a/java/com/google/gerrit/acceptance/testsuite/project/ProjectOperationsImpl.java
+++ b/java/com/google/gerrit/acceptance/testsuite/project/ProjectOperationsImpl.java
@@ -280,6 +280,29 @@ public class ProjectOperationsImpl implements ProjectOperations {
 
     private void invalidateProject(TestProjectInvalidation testProjectInvalidation)
         throws Exception {
+      if (testProjectInvalidation.makeProjectConfigInvalid()) {
+        Config projectConfig = new Config();
+        projectConfig.fromText(getConfig().toText());
+
+        // Make the project config invalid by adding a permission entry with an invalid permission
+        // name.
+        projectConfig.setString(
+            "access", "refs/*", "Invalid Permission Name", "group Administrators");
+
+        setConfig(projectConfig);
+        try {
+          projectCache.evict(nameKey);
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+          // Evicting the project from the cache, also triggers a reindex of the project.
+          // The reindex step fails if the project config is invalid. That's fine, since it was our
+          // intention to make the project config invalid. Hence we ignore exceptions that are cause
+          // by an invalid project config here.
+          if (!Throwables.getCausalChain(e).stream()
+              .anyMatch(ConfigInvalidException.class::isInstance)) {
+            throw e;
+          }
+        }
+      }
       if (!testProjectInvalidation.projectConfigUpdater().isEmpty()) {
         Config projectConfig = new Config();
         projectConfig.fromText(getConfig().toText());
diff --git a/java/com/google/gerrit/acceptance/testsuite/project/TestProjectInvalidation.java b/java/com/google/gerrit/acceptance/testsuite/project/TestProjectInvalidation.java
index f070b5603f..d4bd912208 100644
--- a/java/com/google/gerrit/acceptance/testsuite/project/TestProjectInvalidation.java
+++ b/java/com/google/gerrit/acceptance/testsuite/project/TestProjectInvalidation.java
@@ -28,16 +28,31 @@ import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Config;
  */
 @AutoValue
 public abstract class TestProjectInvalidation {
+  public abstract boolean makeProjectConfigInvalid();
+
   public abstract ImmutableList<Consumer<Config>> projectConfigUpdater();
 
   abstract ThrowingConsumer<TestProjectInvalidation> projectInvalidator();
 
   public static Builder builder(ThrowingConsumer<TestProjectInvalidation> projectInvalidator) {
-    return new AutoValue_TestProjectInvalidation.Builder().projectInvalidator(projectInvalidator);
+    return new AutoValue_TestProjectInvalidation.Builder()
+        .projectInvalidator(projectInvalidator)
+        .makeProjectConfigInvalid(false);
   }
 
   @AutoValue.Builder
   public abstract static class Builder {
+    /**
+     * Updates the project.config file so that it becomes invalid and loading it within Gerrit fails
+     * with {@link org.eclipse.jgit.errors.ConfigInvalidException}.
+     */
+    public Builder makeProjectConfigInvalid() {
+      makeProjectConfigInvalid(true);
+      return this;
+    }
+
+    protected abstract Builder makeProjectConfigInvalid(boolean makeProjectConfigInvalid);
+
     /**
      * Adds a consumer that can update the project config.
      *
diff --git a/javatests/com/google/gerrit/acceptance/api/project/ProjectIT.java b/javatests/com/google/gerrit/acceptance/api/project/ProjectIT.java
index cad20b6e19..8dc76dd78b 100644
--- a/javatests/com/google/gerrit/acceptance/api/project/ProjectIT.java
+++ b/javatests/com/google/gerrit/acceptance/api/project/ProjectIT.java
@@ -894,14 +894,10 @@ public class ProjectIT extends AbstractDaemonTest {
 
   @Test
   public void getProjectThatHasInvalidProjectConfig() throws Exception {
-    // Make the project config invalid by adding permission entry with an invalid permission name.
     projectOperations
         .project(allProjects)
         .forInvalidation()
-        .addProjectConfigUpdater(
-            cfg ->
-                cfg.setString(
-                    "access", "refs/*", "Invalid Permission Name", "group Administrators"))
+        .makeProjectConfigInvalid()
         .invalidate();
 
     // We must test this via the REST API since ExceptionHook is not invoked from the Java API.