diff --git a/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/scene/export/exporters.test.ts b/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/scene/export/exporters.test.ts
index 38cc91bf462..f91f1563abc 100644
--- a/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/scene/export/exporters.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/scene/export/exporters.test.ts
@@ -293,6 +293,65 @@ describe('dashboard exporter v1', () => {
     expect(exported.panels[0].targets[0].datasource).toEqual({ uid: '${DS_OTHER}', type: 'other' });
   });
 
+  it('should not attempt to templateize datasource variable ref if they have already been templateized', async () => {
+    const dashboard: Dashboard = {
+      title: 'My dashboard',
+      revision: 1,
+      editable: false,
+      graphTooltip: DashboardCursorSync.Off,
+      schemaVersion: 1,
+      timepicker: { hidden: true },
+      timezone: '',
+      panels: [
+        {
+          id: 1,
+          type: 'timeseries',
+          title: 'My panel title',
+          gridPos: { x: 0, y: 0, w: 1, h: 1 },
+          datasource: {
+            type: 'prometheus',
+            uid: '${ds_var}',
+          },
+        },
+      ],
+      templating: {
+        list: [
+          {
+            current: {
+              selected: false,
+              text: 'my-prometheus-datasource',
+              value: 'my-prometheus-datasource-uid',
+            },
+            hide: 0,
+            includeAll: false,
+            multi: false,
+            name: 'ds_var',
+            options: [],
+            query: 'prometheus',
+            refresh: 1,
+            regex: '',
+            skipUrlSync: false,
+            type: 'datasource',
+          },
+          // query variable here uses the datasource variable that has already been templateized
+          {
+            name: 'query_var',
+            datasource: { uid: '${ds_var}', type: 'prometheus' },
+            type: 'query',
+          },
+        ],
+      },
+    };
+    const dashboardModel = new DashboardModel(dashboard, undefined, {
+      getVariablesFromState: () => dashboard.templating!.list! as TypedVariableModel[],
+    });
+    const exported = (await makeExportableV1(dashboardModel)) as DashboardJson;
+
+    // @ts-ignore
+    const queryVarDatasource = exported.templating?.list[1].datasource;
+    expect(queryVarDatasource).toEqual({ uid: '${ds_var}', type: 'prometheus' });
+  });
+
   describe('given dashboard with repeated panels', () => {
     let dash: any, exported: any;
 
diff --git a/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/scene/export/exporters.ts b/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/scene/export/exporters.ts
index 01a2ea9736b..96492361e8d 100644
--- a/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/scene/export/exporters.ts
+++ b/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/scene/export/exporters.ts
@@ -128,6 +128,12 @@ export async function makeExportableV1(dashboard: DashboardModel) {
     if (match) {
       varName = match[1] || match[2] || match[4];
       datasourceVariable = variableLookup[varName];
+
+      // if datasource variable is already templated, skip it
+      if (datasourceVariableRefNameMap[varName]) {
+        return;
+      }
+
       if (datasourceVariable && datasourceVariable.current) {
         datasource = datasourceVariable.current.value;
       }
@@ -172,7 +178,7 @@ export async function makeExportableV1(dashboard: DashboardModel) {
           };
         }
 
-        // if it panel or query is relying on a datasource variable
+        // if panel or query is relying on a datasource variable
         // skip templating datasource uid but save the reference so we can set datasource variable's current prop
         if (datasourceVariable && varName) {
           datasourceVariableRefNameMap[varName] = '${' + refName + '}';