diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/elasticsearch/datasource.js b/public/app/plugins/datasource/elasticsearch/datasource.js
index 6b1616c8cb9..564ffff5230 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/elasticsearch/datasource.js
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/elasticsearch/datasource.js
@@ -158,10 +158,10 @@ function (angular, _, moment, kbn, ElasticQueryBuilder, IndexPattern, ElasticRes
         target = options.targets[i];
         if (target.hide) {return;}
 
-        var esQuery = this.queryBuilder.build(target);
-        payload += header + '\n';
-        payload += angular.toJson(esQuery) + '\n';
+        var esQuery = angular.toJson(this.queryBuilder.build(target));
+        esQuery = esQuery.replace("$lucene_query", target.query || '*');
 
+        payload += header + '\n' + esQuery + '\n';
         sentTargets.push(target);
       }
 
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/elasticsearch/partials/query.editor.html b/public/app/plugins/datasource/elasticsearch/partials/query.editor.html
index 20566e6f4d3..fe3900fcbad 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/elasticsearch/partials/query.editor.html
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/elasticsearch/partials/query.editor.html
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@
 		</li>
 	</ul>
 
-	<ul class="tight-form-list" ng-hide="target.rawQuery">
+	<ul class="tight-form-list">
 		<li class="tight-form-item query-keyword" style="width: 75px">
 			Query
 		</li>
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/elasticsearch/queryBuilder.js b/public/app/plugins/datasource/elasticsearch/queryBuilder.js
index 6da10ded1fa..961f6cad96e 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/elasticsearch/queryBuilder.js
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/elasticsearch/queryBuilder.js
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ function (angular) {
           "query": {
             "query_string": {
               "analyze_wildcard": true,
-              "query": target.query || '*' ,
+              "query": '$lucene_query',
             }
           },
           "filter": {
diff --git a/public/test/specs/elasticsearch-querybuilder-specs.js b/public/test/specs/elasticsearch-querybuilder-specs.js
index 18af6f981ff..0e1b354f60a 100644
--- a/public/test/specs/elasticsearch-querybuilder-specs.js
+++ b/public/test/specs/elasticsearch-querybuilder-specs.js
@@ -21,6 +21,14 @@ define([
       expect(query.aggs["1"].date_histogram.extended_bounds.min).to.be("$timeFrom");
     });
 
+    it('with raw query', function() {
+      var query = builder.build({
+        rawQuery: '{"query": "$lucene_query"}',
+      });
+
+      expect(query.query).to.be("$lucene_query");
+    });
+
     it('with multiple bucket aggs', function() {
       var query = builder.build({
         metrics: [{type: 'count', id: '1'}],