diff --git a/src/Text/Pandoc/Shared.hs b/src/Text/Pandoc/Shared.hs
index c5183aacb..59e30feeb 100644
--- a/src/Text/Pandoc/Shared.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pandoc/Shared.hs
@@ -623,7 +623,7 @@ onlySimpleTableCells = all isSimpleCell . concat
 
 -- | Detect if a list is tight.
 isTightList :: [[Block]] -> Bool
-isTightList = all firstIsPlain
+isTightList = all (\item -> firstIsPlain item || null item)
   where firstIsPlain (Plain _ : _) = True
         firstIsPlain _             = False
 
diff --git a/test/command/5857.md b/test/command/5857.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..31320cd12
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/command/5857.md
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+```
+% pandoc -f native -t markdown
+[BulletList
+ [[Plain [Str "a"]]
+ ,[]
+ ,[Plain [Str "b"]]]]
+^D
+-   a
+-   
+-   b
+```