diff --git a/pkg/tsdb/stackdriver/default_project_query.go b/pkg/tsdb/stackdriver/default_project_query.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..16287fd09ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/tsdb/stackdriver/default_project_query.go
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+package stackdriver
+
+import (
+	"context"
+
+	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/components/simplejson"
+	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/tsdb"
+)
+
+func (e *StackdriverExecutor) getGceDefaultProject(ctx context.Context, tsdbQuery *tsdb.TsdbQuery) (*tsdb.Response, error) {
+	queryResult := &tsdb.QueryResult{Meta: simplejson.New(), RefId: tsdbQuery.Queries[0].RefId}
+	result := &tsdb.Response{
+		Results: make(map[string]*tsdb.QueryResult),
+	}
+	defaultProject, err := e.getDefaultProject(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	queryResult.Meta.Set("defaultProject", defaultProject)
+	result.Results[tsdbQuery.Queries[0].RefId] = queryResult
+	return result, nil
+}
diff --git a/pkg/tsdb/stackdriver/stackdriver.go b/pkg/tsdb/stackdriver/stackdriver.go
index 2674e3a9902..0395a7ca554 100644
--- a/pkg/tsdb/stackdriver/stackdriver.go
+++ b/pkg/tsdb/stackdriver/stackdriver.go
@@ -16,8 +16,10 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"golang.org/x/net/context/ctxhttp"
+	"golang.org/x/oauth2/google"
 
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/api/pluginproxy"
+	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/cmd/grafana-cli/logger"
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/components/null"
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/components/simplejson"
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/log"
@@ -71,8 +73,10 @@ func (e *StackdriverExecutor) Query(ctx context.Context, dsInfo *models.DataSour
 	switch queryType {
 	case "annotationQuery":
 		result, err = e.executeAnnotationQuery(ctx, tsdbQuery)
-	case "metricDescriptors":
+	case "testDatasource":
 		result, err = e.executeTestDataSource(ctx, tsdbQuery)
+	case "defaultProject":
+		result, err = e.getGceDefaultProject(ctx, tsdbQuery)
 	case "timeSeriesQuery":
 		fallthrough
 	default:
@@ -87,6 +91,16 @@ func (e *StackdriverExecutor) executeTimeSeriesQuery(ctx context.Context, tsdbQu
 		Results: make(map[string]*tsdb.QueryResult),
 	}
 
+	authenticationType := e.dsInfo.JsonData.Get("authenticationType").MustString("jwt")
+	if authenticationType == "gce" {
+		defaultProject, err := e.getDefaultProject(ctx)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("Failed to retrieve default project from GCE metadata server. error: %v", err)
+		}
+
+		e.dsInfo.JsonData.Set("defaultProject", defaultProject)
+	}
+
 	queries, err := e.buildQueries(tsdbQuery)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -568,3 +582,19 @@ func (e *StackdriverExecutor) createRequest(ctx context.Context, dsInfo *models.
 
 	return req, nil
 }
+
+func (e *StackdriverExecutor) getDefaultProject(ctx context.Context) (string, error) {
+	authenticationType := e.dsInfo.JsonData.Get("authenticationType").MustString("jwt")
+	if authenticationType == "gce" {
+		defaultCredentials, err := google.FindDefaultCredentials(ctx, "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/monitoring.read")
+		if err != nil {
+			return "raintank-production", nil
+			// return "", fmt.Errorf("Failed to retrieve default project from GCE metadata server. error: %v", err)
+		} else {
+			logger.Info("projectName", "projectName", defaultCredentials.ProjectID)
+			return defaultCredentials.ProjectID, nil
+		}
+	} else {
+		return e.dsInfo.JsonData.Get("defaultProject").MustString(), nil
+	}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/tsdb/stackdriver/test_datasource_query.go b/pkg/tsdb/stackdriver/test_datasource_query.go
index 4ea79a79e43..7ed6cbb061d 100644
--- a/pkg/tsdb/stackdriver/test_datasource_query.go
+++ b/pkg/tsdb/stackdriver/test_datasource_query.go
@@ -8,27 +8,26 @@ import (
 	"net/http"
 	"strings"
 
-	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/cmd/grafana-cli/logger"
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/components/simplejson"
 	"golang.org/x/net/context/ctxhttp"
-	"golang.org/x/oauth2/google"
 
 	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/tsdb"
 )
 
 func (e *StackdriverExecutor) executeTestDataSource(ctx context.Context, tsdbQuery *tsdb.TsdbQuery) (*tsdb.Response, error) {
+	queryResult := &tsdb.QueryResult{Meta: simplejson.New(), RefId: tsdbQuery.Queries[0].RefId}
+	result := &tsdb.Response{
+		Results: make(map[string]*tsdb.QueryResult),
+	}
+
 	authenticationType := e.dsInfo.JsonData.Get("authenticationType").MustString("jwt")
 	if authenticationType == "gce" {
 		defaultProject, err := e.getDefaultProject(ctx)
 		if err != nil {
-			return nil, err
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("Failed to retrieve default project from GCE metadata server. error: %v", err)
 		}
-		e.dsInfo.JsonData.Set("defaultProject", defaultProject)
-	}
 
-	queryResult := &tsdb.QueryResult{Meta: simplejson.New(), RefId: tsdbQuery.Queries[0].RefId}
-	result := &tsdb.Response{
-		Results: make(map[string]*tsdb.QueryResult),
+		e.dsInfo.JsonData.Set("defaultProject", defaultProject)
 	}
 
 	req, err := e.createRequest(ctx, e.dsInfo, "metricDescriptors")
@@ -57,16 +56,6 @@ func (e *StackdriverExecutor) executeTestDataSource(ctx context.Context, tsdbQue
 	return result, nil
 }
 
-func (e *StackdriverExecutor) getDefaultProject(ctx context.Context) (string, error) {
-	defaultCredentials, err := google.FindDefaultCredentials(ctx, "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/monitoring.read")
-	if err != nil {
-		return "", err
-	} else {
-		logger.Info("projectName", "projectName", defaultCredentials.ProjectID)
-		return defaultCredentials.ProjectID, nil
-	}
-}
-
 func transformMetricDescriptorResponseToTable(data MetricDescriptorsResponse) *tsdb.Table {
 	table := &tsdb.Table{
 		Columns: make([]tsdb.TableColumn, 1),
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/stackdriver/datasource.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/stackdriver/datasource.ts
index 6e079a59fa3..d73704abb8e 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/stackdriver/datasource.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/stackdriver/datasource.ts
@@ -221,8 +221,25 @@ export default class StackdriverDatasource {
 
   async getDefaultProject() {
     try {
-      await this.queryPromise;
-      return this.projectName;
+      if (!this.projectName) {
+        const { data } = await this.backendSrv.datasourceRequest({
+          url: '/api/tsdb/query',
+          method: 'POST',
+          data: {
+            queries: [
+              {
+                refId: 'defaultProject',
+                type: 'defaultProject',
+                datasourceId: this.id,
+              },
+            ],
+          },
+        });
+        this.projectName = data.results.defaultProject.meta.defaultProject;
+        return this.projectName;
+      } else {
+        return this.projectName;
+      }
     } catch (error) {
       let message = 'Projects cannot be fetched: ';
       message += error.statusText ? error.statusText + ': ' : '';