diff --git a/src/main/java/org/opensearch/flowframework/rest/RestCreateWorkflowAction.java b/src/main/java/org/opensearch/flowframework/rest/RestCreateWorkflowAction.java
index fcc7bc53e..48401a611 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/opensearch/flowframework/rest/RestCreateWorkflowAction.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/opensearch/flowframework/rest/RestCreateWorkflowAction.java
@@ -62,22 +62,28 @@ public List<Route> routes() {
 
     @Override
     protected RestChannelConsumer prepareRequest(RestRequest request, NodeClient client) throws IOException {
-
-        String workflowId = request.param(WORKFLOW_ID);
-        Template template = Template.parse(request.content().utf8ToString());
-        WorkflowRequest workflowRequest = new WorkflowRequest(workflowId, template);
-        return channel -> client.execute(CreateWorkflowAction.INSTANCE, workflowRequest, ActionListener.wrap(response -> {
-            XContentBuilder builder = response.toXContent(channel.newBuilder(), ToXContent.EMPTY_PARAMS);
-            channel.sendResponse(new BytesRestResponse(RestStatus.CREATED, builder));
-        }, exception -> {
-            try {
-                FlowFrameworkException ex = (FlowFrameworkException) exception;
-                XContentBuilder exceptionBuilder = ex.toXContent(channel.newErrorBuilder(), ToXContent.EMPTY_PARAMS);
-                channel.sendResponse(new BytesRestResponse(ex.getRestStatus(), exceptionBuilder));
-            } catch (IOException e) {
-                logger.error("Failed to send back create workflow exception", e);
-            }
-        }));
+        try {
+            String workflowId = request.param(WORKFLOW_ID);
+            Template template = Template.parse(request.content().utf8ToString());
+            WorkflowRequest workflowRequest = new WorkflowRequest(workflowId, template);
+            return channel -> client.execute(CreateWorkflowAction.INSTANCE, workflowRequest, ActionListener.wrap(response -> {
+                XContentBuilder builder = response.toXContent(channel.newBuilder(), ToXContent.EMPTY_PARAMS);
+                channel.sendResponse(new BytesRestResponse(RestStatus.CREATED, builder));
+            }, exception -> {
+                try {
+                    FlowFrameworkException ex = (FlowFrameworkException) exception;
+                    XContentBuilder exceptionBuilder = ex.toXContent(channel.newErrorBuilder(), ToXContent.EMPTY_PARAMS);
+                    channel.sendResponse(new BytesRestResponse(ex.getRestStatus(), exceptionBuilder));
+                } catch (IOException e) {
+                    logger.error("Failed to send back create workflow exception", e);
+                }
+            }));
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            FlowFrameworkException ex = new FlowFrameworkException(e.getMessage(), RestStatus.BAD_REQUEST);
+            return channel -> channel.sendResponse(
+                new BytesRestResponse(ex.getRestStatus(), ex.toXContent(channel.newErrorBuilder(), ToXContent.EMPTY_PARAMS))
+            );
+        }
 
     }
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/opensearch/flowframework/rest/RestCreateWorkflowActionTests.java b/src/test/java/org/opensearch/flowframework/rest/RestCreateWorkflowActionTests.java
index fd07a91eb..2d98db7fc 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/opensearch/flowframework/rest/RestCreateWorkflowActionTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/opensearch/flowframework/rest/RestCreateWorkflowActionTests.java
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 import org.opensearch.Version;
 import org.opensearch.client.node.NodeClient;
 import org.opensearch.core.common.bytes.BytesArray;
+import org.opensearch.core.rest.RestStatus;
 import org.opensearch.core.xcontent.MediaTypeRegistry;
 import org.opensearch.flowframework.model.Template;
 import org.opensearch.flowframework.model.Workflow;
@@ -19,9 +20,9 @@
 import org.opensearch.rest.RestHandler.Route;
 import org.opensearch.rest.RestRequest;
 import org.opensearch.test.OpenSearchTestCase;
+import org.opensearch.test.rest.FakeRestChannel;
 import org.opensearch.test.rest.FakeRestRequest;
 
-import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Locale;
 import java.util.Map;
@@ -87,13 +88,15 @@ public void testRestCreateWorkflowActionRoutes() {
 
     }
 
-    public void testInvalidCreateWorkflowRequest() throws IOException {
+    public void testInvalidCreateWorkflowRequest() throws Exception {
         RestRequest request = new FakeRestRequest.Builder(xContentRegistry()).withMethod(RestRequest.Method.POST)
             .withPath(this.createWorkflowPath)
             .withContent(new BytesArray(invalidTemplate), MediaTypeRegistry.JSON)
             .build();
 
-        IOException ex = expectThrows(IOException.class, () -> { createWorkflowRestAction.prepareRequest(request, nodeClient); });
-        assertEquals("Unable to parse field [invalid] in a template object.", ex.getMessage());
+        FakeRestChannel channel = new FakeRestChannel(request, false, 1);
+        createWorkflowRestAction.handleRequest(request, channel, nodeClient);
+        assertEquals(RestStatus.BAD_REQUEST, channel.capturedResponse().status());
+        assertTrue(channel.capturedResponse().content().utf8ToString().contains("Unable to parse field [invalid] in a template object."));
     }
 }