diff --git a/heat/engine/cfn/template.py b/heat/engine/cfn/template.py
index 6b705e428d..22ec1b6fe3 100644
--- a/heat/engine/cfn/template.py
+++ b/heat/engine/cfn/template.py
@@ -150,14 +150,23 @@ class CfnTemplateBase(template_common.CommonTemplate):
             name = definition.name
         hot_tmpl = definition.render_hot()
 
+        if self.t.get(self.RESOURCES) is None:
+            self.t[self.RESOURCES] = {}
+
         cfn_tmpl = dict((self.HOT_TO_CFN_RES_ATTRS[k], v)
                         for k, v in hot_tmpl.items())
 
-        if len(cfn_tmpl.get(self.RES_DEPENDS_ON, [])) == 1:
-            cfn_tmpl[self.RES_DEPENDS_ON] = cfn_tmpl[self.RES_DEPENDS_ON][0]
+        dep_list = cfn_tmpl.get(self.RES_DEPENDS_ON, [])
+        if len(dep_list) == 1:
+            dep_res = cfn_tmpl[self.RES_DEPENDS_ON][0]
+            if dep_res in self.t[self.RESOURCES]:
+                cfn_tmpl[self.RES_DEPENDS_ON] = dep_res
+            else:
+                del cfn_tmpl[self.RES_DEPENDS_ON]
+        elif dep_list:
+            cfn_tmpl[self.RES_DEPENDS_ON] = [d for d in dep_list
+                                             if d in self.t[self.RESOURCES]]
 
-        if self.t.get(self.RESOURCES) is None:
-            self.t[self.RESOURCES] = {}
         self.t[self.RESOURCES][name] = cfn_tmpl
 
     def add_output(self, definition):
diff --git a/heat/engine/hot/template.py b/heat/engine/hot/template.py
index dc3698391c..0a18f4f8bd 100644
--- a/heat/engine/hot/template.py
+++ b/heat/engine/hot/template.py
@@ -266,7 +266,14 @@ class HOTemplate20130523(template_common.CommonTemplate):
 
         if self.t.get(self.RESOURCES) is None:
             self.t[self.RESOURCES] = {}
-        self.t[self.RESOURCES][name] = definition.render_hot()
+        rendered = definition.render_hot()
+
+        dep_list = rendered.get(self.RES_DEPENDS_ON)
+        if dep_list:
+            rendered[self.RES_DEPENDS_ON] = [d for d in dep_list
+                                             if d in self.t[self.RESOURCES]]
+
+        self.t[self.RESOURCES][name] = rendered
 
     def add_output(self, definition):
         if self.t.get(self.OUTPUTS) is None:
diff --git a/heat/tests/test_hot.py b/heat/tests/test_hot.py
index 62be09a667..08b10f1c6e 100644
--- a/heat/tests/test_hot.py
+++ b/heat/tests/test_hot.py
@@ -1934,15 +1934,24 @@ conditions:
               foo: bar
           resource2:
             type: AWS::EC2::Instance
+          resource3:
+            type: AWS::EC2::Instance
+            depends_on:
+              - resource1
+              - dummy
+              - resource2
         ''')
         source = template.Template(hot_tpl)
         empty = template.Template(copy.deepcopy(hot_tpl_empty))
         stack = parser.Stack(utils.dummy_context(), 'test_stack', source)
 
-        for defn in six.itervalues(source.resource_definitions(stack)):
+        for rname, defn in sorted(source.resource_definitions(stack).items()):
             empty.add_resource(defn)
 
-        self.assertEqual(hot_tpl['resources'], empty.t['resources'])
+        expected = copy.deepcopy(hot_tpl['resources'])
+        expected['resource1']['depends_on'] = []
+        expected['resource3']['depends_on'] = ['resource1', 'resource2']
+        self.assertEqual(expected, empty.t['resources'])
 
     def test_add_output(self):
         hot_tpl = template_format.parse('''
diff --git a/heat/tests/test_template.py b/heat/tests/test_template.py
index b14b7aa1d9..0c6e137a1e 100644
--- a/heat/tests/test_template.py
+++ b/heat/tests/test_template.py
@@ -1421,15 +1421,24 @@ class TemplateTest(common.HeatTestCase):
               foo: bar
           resource2:
             Type: AWS::EC2::Instance
+          resource3:
+            Type: AWS::EC2::Instance
+            DependsOn:
+              - resource1
+              - dummy
+              - resource2
         ''')
         source = template.Template(cfn_tpl)
         empty = template.Template(copy.deepcopy(empty_template))
         stk = stack.Stack(self.ctx, 'test_stack', source)
 
-        for defn in six.itervalues(source.resource_definitions(stk)):
+        for rname, defn in sorted(source.resource_definitions(stk).items()):
             empty.add_resource(defn)
 
-        self.assertEqual(cfn_tpl['Resources'], empty.t['Resources'])
+        expected = copy.deepcopy(cfn_tpl['Resources'])
+        del expected['resource1']['DependsOn']
+        expected['resource3']['DependsOn'] = ['resource1', 'resource2']
+        self.assertEqual(expected, empty.t['Resources'])
 
     def test_add_output(self):
         cfn_tpl = template_format.parse('''