diff --git a/public/app/features/alerting/unified/components/rule-editor/query-and-alert-condition/reducer.ts b/public/app/features/alerting/unified/components/rule-editor/query-and-alert-condition/reducer.ts
index b3499b8c520..372e028bbcc 100644
--- a/public/app/features/alerting/unified/components/rule-editor/query-and-alert-condition/reducer.ts
+++ b/public/app/features/alerting/unified/components/rule-editor/query-and-alert-condition/reducer.ts
@@ -247,8 +247,9 @@ export const queriesAndExpressionsReducer = createReducer(initialState, (builder
 
       const dataQuery = updatedQueries.at(0);
       const isInstantDataQuery = dataQuery ? getInstantFromDataQuery(dataQuery) : false;
+      const hasReducer = expressionQueries.some((q) => isReducerExpression(q.model));
+      const shouldRemoveReducer = isInstantDataQuery && expressionQueries.length === 2 && hasReducer;
 
-      const shouldRemoveReducer = isInstantDataQuery && expressionQueries.length === 2;
       if (shouldRemoveReducer) {
         const reduceExpressionIndex = state.queries.findIndex(
           (query) =>