diff --git a/easybuild/framework/easyconfig/easyconfig.py b/easybuild/framework/easyconfig/easyconfig.py
index 73182da7ac..2b6aaa751a 100644
--- a/easybuild/framework/easyconfig/easyconfig.py
+++ b/easybuild/framework/easyconfig/easyconfig.py
@@ -2026,12 +2026,14 @@ def resolve_template(value, tmpl_dict):
         # '%(name)s' -> '%(name)s'
         # '%%(name)s' -> '%%(name)s'
         if '%' in value:
+            orig_value = value
             value = re.sub(re.compile(r'(%)(?!%*\(\w+\)s)'), r'\1\1', value)
 
             try:
                 value = value % tmpl_dict
             except KeyError:
                 _log.warning("Unable to resolve template value %s with dict %s", value, tmpl_dict)
+                value = orig_value  # Undo "%"-escaping
     else:
         # this block deals with references to objects and returns other references
         # for reading this is ok, but for self['x'] = {}
diff --git a/test/framework/easyconfig.py b/test/framework/easyconfig.py
index 45e2852221..4b63dc605b 100644
--- a/test/framework/easyconfig.py
+++ b/test/framework/easyconfig.py
@@ -3654,6 +3654,30 @@ def test_resolve_template(self):
         # '%(name)' is not a correct template spec (missing trailing 's')
         self.assertEqual(resolve_template('%(name)', tmpl_dict), '%(name)')
 
+        # Correct (un)escaping
+        values = (
+            ('10%', '10%'),
+            ('%of', '%of'),
+            ('10%of', '10%of'),
+            ('%s', '%s'),
+            ('%%(name)s', '%(name)s'),
+            ('%%%(name)s', '%FooBar'),
+            ('%%%%(name)s', '%%(name)s'),
+            # It doesn't matter what is resolved
+            ('%%(invalid)s', '%(invalid)s'),
+            ('%%%%(invalid)s', '%%(invalid)s'),
+        )
+        for value, expected in values:
+            self.assertEqual(resolve_template(value, tmpl_dict), expected)
+            # Templates are resolved
+            value += ' %(name)s'
+            expected += ' FooBar'
+            self.assertEqual(resolve_template(value, tmpl_dict), expected)
+
+        # On unknown values the value is returned unchanged
+        for value in ('%(invalid)s', '%(name)s %(invalid)s', '%%%(invalid)s', '% %(invalid)s', '%s %(invalid)s'):
+            self.assertEqual(resolve_template(value, tmpl_dict), value)
+
     def test_det_subtoolchain_version(self):
         """Test det_subtoolchain_version function"""
         _, all_tc_classes = search_toolchain('')