diff --git a/public/app/features/expressions/ExpressionDatasource.ts b/public/app/features/expressions/ExpressionDatasource.ts
index 096d8a988dc..5376e396377 100644
--- a/public/app/features/expressions/ExpressionDatasource.ts
+++ b/public/app/features/expressions/ExpressionDatasource.ts
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ export class ExpressionDatasourceApi extends DataSourceWithBackend<ExpressionQue
         return query;
       }
 
-      return ds?.interpolateVariablesInQueries([query], {})[0] as ExpressionQuery;
+      return ds?.interpolateVariablesInQueries([query], request.scopedVars)[0] as ExpressionQuery;
     });
 
     let sub = from(Promise.all(targets));
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/cloudwatch/datasource.test.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/cloudwatch/datasource.test.ts
index 3a906e69bbb..964a17a061d 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/cloudwatch/datasource.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/cloudwatch/datasource.test.ts
@@ -443,6 +443,30 @@ describe('datasource', () => {
     });
   });
 
+  describe('interpolateMetricsQueryVariables', () => {
+    it('interpolates dimensions correctly', () => {
+      const testQuery = {
+        id: 'a',
+        refId: 'a',
+        region: 'us-east-2',
+        namespace: '',
+        dimensions: { InstanceId: '$dimension' },
+      };
+      const ds = setupMockedDataSource({ variables: [dimensionVariable], mockGetVariableName: false });
+      const result = ds.datasource.interpolateMetricsQueryVariables(testQuery, {
+        dimension: { text: 'foo', value: 'foo' },
+      });
+      expect(result).toStrictEqual({
+        alias: '',
+        metricName: '',
+        namespace: '',
+        period: '',
+        sqlExpression: '',
+        dimensions: { InstanceId: ['foo'] },
+      });
+    });
+  });
+
   describe('convertMultiFiltersFormat', () => {
     const ds = setupMockedDataSource({ variables: [labelsVariable, dimensionVariable], mockGetVariableName: false });
     it('converts keys and values correctly', () => {
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/cloudwatch/datasource.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/cloudwatch/datasource.ts
index 15761c0d7de..582d3016959 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/cloudwatch/datasource.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/cloudwatch/datasource.ts
@@ -958,13 +958,7 @@ export class CloudWatchDatasource
       namespace: this.replace(query.namespace, scopedVars),
       period: this.replace(query.period, scopedVars),
       sqlExpression: this.replace(query.sqlExpression, scopedVars),
-      dimensions: Object.entries(query.dimensions ?? {}).reduce((prev, [key, value]) => {
-        if (Array.isArray(value)) {
-          return { ...prev, [key]: value };
-        }
-
-        return { ...prev, [this.replace(key, scopedVars)]: this.replace(value, scopedVars) };
-      }, {}),
+      dimensions: this.convertDimensionFormat(query.dimensions ?? {}, scopedVars),
     };
   }
 }
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/cloudwatch/specs/datasource.test.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/cloudwatch/specs/datasource.test.ts
index df2004957bc..6855148d22a 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/cloudwatch/specs/datasource.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/cloudwatch/specs/datasource.test.ts
@@ -585,7 +585,11 @@ describe('CloudWatchDatasource', () => {
     });
 
     it('should replace correct variables in CloudWatchMetricsQuery', () => {
-      const templateSrv: any = { replace: jest.fn(), getVariables: () => [] };
+      const templateSrv: any = {
+        replace: jest.fn(),
+        getVariables: () => [],
+        getVariableName: jest.fn((name: string) => name),
+      };
       const { ds } = getTestContext({ templateSrv });
       const variableName = 'someVar';
       const logQuery: CloudWatchMetricsQuery = {
@@ -608,9 +612,12 @@ describe('CloudWatchDatasource', () => {
 
       ds.interpolateVariablesInQueries([logQuery], {});
 
-      // We interpolate `expression`, `region`, `period`, `alias`, `metricName`, `nameSpace` and `dimensions` in CloudWatchMetricsQuery
+      // We interpolate `expression`, `region`, `period`, `alias`, `metricName`, and `nameSpace` in CloudWatchMetricsQuery
       expect(templateSrv.replace).toHaveBeenCalledWith(`$${variableName}`, {});
-      expect(templateSrv.replace).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(8);
+      expect(templateSrv.replace).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(7);
+
+      expect(templateSrv.getVariableName).toHaveBeenCalledWith(`$${variableName}`);
+      expect(templateSrv.getVariableName).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
     });
   });