diff --git a/public/app/features/templating/templateSrv.js b/public/app/features/templating/templateSrv.js
index e2e628c1cd5..2e5f945c96a 100644
--- a/public/app/features/templating/templateSrv.js
+++ b/public/app/features/templating/templateSrv.js
@@ -42,6 +42,16 @@ function (angular, _) {
       return value.replace(/([\!\*\+\-\=<>\s\&\|\(\)\[\]\{\}\^\~\?\:\\/"])/g, "\\$1");
     }
 
+    this.luceneFormat = function(value) {
+      if (typeof value === 'string') {
+        return luceneEscape(value);
+      }
+      var quotedValues = _.map(value, function(val) {
+        return '\"' + luceneEscape(val) + '\"';
+      });
+      return '(' + quotedValues.join(' OR ') + ')';
+    };
+
     this.formatValue = function(value, format, variable) {
       // for some scopedVars there is no variable
       variable = variable || {};
@@ -60,13 +70,7 @@ function (angular, _) {
           return '(' + escapedValues.join('|') + ')';
         }
         case "lucene": {
-          if (typeof value === 'string') {
-            return luceneEscape(value);
-          }
-          var quotedValues = _.map(value, function(val) {
-            return '\"' + luceneEscape(val) + '\"';
-          });
-          return '(' + quotedValues.join(' OR ') + ')';
+          return this.luceneFormat(value, format, variable);
         }
         case "pipe": {
           if (typeof value === 'string') {
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/elasticsearch/datasource.js b/public/app/plugins/datasource/elasticsearch/datasource.js
index c7c2351d0cc..d5926be3f81 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/elasticsearch/datasource.js
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/elasticsearch/datasource.js
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ function (angular, _, moment, kbn, ElasticQueryBuilder, IndexPattern, ElasticRes
         range[timeField]["format"] = "epoch_millis";
       }
 
-      var queryInterpolated = templateSrv.replace(queryString);
+      var queryInterpolated = templateSrv.replace(queryString, {}, 'lucene');
       var filter = { "bool": { "must": [{ "range": range }] } };
       var query = { "bool": { "should": [{ "query_string": { "query": queryInterpolated } }] } };
       var data = {
@@ -204,6 +204,14 @@ function (angular, _, moment, kbn, ElasticQueryBuilder, IndexPattern, ElasticRes
       });
     };
 
+    function escapeForJson(value) {
+      return value.replace(/\"/g, '\\"');
+    }
+
+    function luceneThenJsonFormat(value) {
+      return escapeForJson(templateSrv.luceneFormat(value));
+    }
+
     this.getFields = function(query) {
       return this._get('/_mapping').then(function(res) {
         var fields = {};
@@ -246,7 +254,7 @@ function (angular, _, moment, kbn, ElasticQueryBuilder, IndexPattern, ElasticRes
       var header = this.getQueryHeader('count', range.from, range.to);
       var esQuery = angular.toJson(this.queryBuilder.getTermsQuery(queryDef));
 
-      esQuery = esQuery.replace("$lucene_query", queryDef.query || '*');
+      esQuery = esQuery.replace("$lucene_query", escapeForJson(queryDef.query || '*'));
       esQuery = esQuery.replace(/\$timeFrom/g, range.from.valueOf());
       esQuery = esQuery.replace(/\$timeTo/g, range.to.valueOf());
       esQuery = header + '\n' + esQuery + '\n';
@@ -260,7 +268,7 @@ function (angular, _, moment, kbn, ElasticQueryBuilder, IndexPattern, ElasticRes
     };
 
     this.metricFindQuery = function(query) {
-      query = templateSrv.replace(query);
+      query = templateSrv.replace(query, {}, luceneThenJsonFormat);
       query = angular.fromJson(query);
       if (!query) {
         return $q.when([]);