diff --git a/test/integration/functional_test.go b/test/integration/functional_test.go
index b0053972d1..bb4efa3701 100644
--- a/test/integration/functional_test.go
+++ b/test/integration/functional_test.go
@@ -70,11 +70,12 @@ func TestFunctional(t *testing.T) {
 			name      string
 			validator validateFunc
 		}{
-			{"CopySyncFile", setupFileSync},            // Set file for the file sync test case
-			{"StartWithProxy", validateStartWithProxy}, // Set everything else up for success
-			{"KubeContext", validateKubeContext},       // Racy: must come immediately after "minikube start"
-			{"KubectlGetPods", validateKubectlGetPods}, // Make sure apiserver is up
-			{"CacheCmd", validateCacheCmd},             // Caches images needed for subsequent tests because of proxy
+			{"CopySyncFile", setupFileSync},                 // Set file for the file sync test case
+			{"StartWithProxy", validateStartWithProxy},      // Set everything else up for success
+			{"KubeContext", validateKubeContext},            // Racy: must come immediately after "minikube start"
+			{"KubectlGetPods", validateKubectlGetPods},      // Make sure apiserver is up
+			{"CacheCmd", validateCacheCmd},                  // Caches images needed for subsequent tests because of proxy
+			{"MinikubeKubectlCmd", validateMinikubeKubectl}, // Make sure `minikube kubectl` works
 		}
 		for _, tc := range tests {
 			tc := tc
@@ -206,6 +207,15 @@ func validateKubectlGetPods(ctx context.Context, t *testing.T, profile string) {
 	}
 }
 
+// validateMinikubeKubectl validates that the `minikube kubectl` command returns content
+func validateMinikubeKubectl(ctx context.Context, t *testing.T, profile string) {
+	kubectlArgs := []string{"kubectl", "--", "get", "pods"}
+	rr, err := Run(t, exec.CommandContext(ctx, Target(), kubectlArgs...))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("%s failed: %v", rr.Args, err)
+	}
+}
+
 // validateComponentHealth asserts that all Kubernetes components are healthy
 func validateComponentHealth(ctx context.Context, t *testing.T, profile string) {
 	rr, err := Run(t, exec.CommandContext(ctx, "kubectl", "--context", profile, "get", "cs", "-o=json"))