diff --git a/api/krusty/patchdelete_test.go b/api/krusty/patchdelete_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e0245c125
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/krusty/patchdelete_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+package krusty_test
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	kusttest_test "sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/testutils/kusttest"
+)
+
+func TestPatchDeleteOfNotExistingAttributesShouldNotAddExtraElements(t *testing.T) {
+	th := kusttest_test.MakeEnhancedHarness(t)
+	defer th.Reset()
+
+	th.WriteF("resource.yaml", `
+apiVersion: apps/v1
+kind: Deployment
+metadata:
+  name: whatever
+spec:
+  template:
+    spec:
+      containers:
+      - env:
+        - name: EXISTING
+          value: EXISTING_VALUE
+        - name: FOR_REMOVAL
+          value: FOR_REMOVAL_VALUE
+        name: whatever
+        image: helloworld
+`)
+	th.WriteF("patch.yaml", `
+apiVersion: apps/v1
+kind: Deployment
+metadata:
+  name: whatever
+spec:
+  template:
+    spec:
+      containers:
+      - name: whatever
+        env:
+        - name: FOR_REMOVAL
+          $patch: delete
+        - name: NOT_EXISTING_FOR_REMOVAL
+          $patch: delete
+`)
+	th.WriteK(".", `
+resources:
+- resource.yaml
+patches:
+- path: patch.yaml
+  target:
+    kind: Deployment
+`)
+
+	// It's expected that removal of not existing elements should not introduce extra values,
+	// as a patch can be applied to multiple resources, not all of them can have all the elements being deleted.
+	expected := `
+apiVersion: apps/v1
+kind: Deployment
+metadata:
+  name: whatever
+spec:
+  template:
+    spec:
+      containers:
+      - env:
+        - name: EXISTING
+          value: EXISTING_VALUE
+        image: helloworld
+        name: whatever
+`
+	// Allow expected variable to be unused
+	_ = expected
+
+	// Currently, kustomize inserts $patch: delete elements into the resulting resources
+	erroneousActual := `
+apiVersion: apps/v1
+kind: Deployment
+metadata:
+  name: whatever
+spec:
+  template:
+    spec:
+      containers:
+      - env:
+        - $patch: delete
+          name: NOT_EXISTING_FOR_REMOVAL
+        - name: EXISTING
+          value: EXISTING_VALUE
+        image: helloworld
+        name: whatever
+`
+
+	m := th.Run(".", th.MakeDefaultOptions())
+	th.AssertActualEqualsExpected(m, erroneousActual)
+}