diff --git a/homeassistant/helpers/template.py b/homeassistant/helpers/template.py
index f090b28210f..7f3937d41c1 100644
--- a/homeassistant/helpers/template.py
+++ b/homeassistant/helpers/template.py
@@ -1623,9 +1623,9 @@ def from_json(value):
     return json.loads(value)
 
 
-def to_json(value):
+def to_json(value, ensure_ascii=True):
     """Convert an object to a JSON string."""
-    return json.dumps(value)
+    return json.dumps(value, ensure_ascii=ensure_ascii)
 
 
 @pass_context
diff --git a/tests/helpers/test_template.py b/tests/helpers/test_template.py
index 557ec81c2dc..dd0c4c96a11 100644
--- a/tests/helpers/test_template.py
+++ b/tests/helpers/test_template.py
@@ -746,6 +746,21 @@ def test_to_json(hass):
     assert actual_result == expected_result
 
 
+def test_to_json_string(hass):
+    """Test the object to JSON string filter."""
+
+    # Note that we're not testing the actual json.loads and json.dumps methods,
+    # only the filters, so we don't need to be exhaustive with our sample JSON.
+    actual_value_ascii = template.Template(
+        "{{ 'Bar ҝ éèà' | to_json }}", hass
+    ).async_render()
+    assert actual_value_ascii == '"Bar \\u049d \\u00e9\\u00e8\\u00e0"'
+    actual_value = template.Template(
+        "{{ 'Bar ҝ éèà' | to_json(ensure_ascii=False) }}", hass
+    ).async_render()
+    assert actual_value == '"Bar ҝ éèà"'
+
+
 def test_from_json(hass):
     """Test the JSON string to object filter."""