diff --git a/src/ng/interpolate.js b/src/ng/interpolate.js
index d119fe0175e9..ae837b14070e 100644
--- a/src/ng/interpolate.js
+++ b/src/ng/interpolate.js
@@ -97,12 +97,19 @@ function $InterpolateProvider() {
 
 
   this.$get = ['$parse', '$exceptionHandler', '$sce', function($parse, $exceptionHandler, $sce) {
-    var startSymbolLength = startSymbol.length,
+    var EVERY_CHAR = /./g,
+        startSymbolLength = startSymbol.length,
         endSymbolLength = endSymbol.length,
-        escapedStartRegexp = new RegExp(startSymbol.replace(/./g, escape), 'g'),
-        escapedEndRegexp = new RegExp(endSymbol.replace(/./g, escape), 'g');
+        escapedStartSymbol = startSymbol.replace(EVERY_CHAR, escapeForString),
+        escapedEndSymbol = endSymbol.replace(EVERY_CHAR, escapeForString),
+        escapedStartRegexp = new RegExp(startSymbol.replace(EVERY_CHAR, escapeForRegex), 'g'),
+        escapedEndRegexp = new RegExp(endSymbol.replace(EVERY_CHAR, escapeForRegex), 'g');
 
-    function escape(ch) {
+    function escapeForString(ch) {
+      return '\\' + ch;
+    }
+
+    function escapeForRegex(ch) {
       return '\\\\\\' + ch;
     }
 
@@ -194,13 +201,6 @@ function $InterpolateProvider() {
      * replacing angle brackets (<, >) with < and > respectively, and replacing all
      * interpolation start/end markers with their escaped counterparts.**
      *
-     * Escaped interpolation markers are only replaced with the actual interpolation markers in rendered
-     * output when the $interpolate service processes the text. So, for HTML elements interpolated
-     * by {@link ng.$compile $compile}, or otherwise interpolated with the `mustHaveExpression` parameter
-     * set to `true`, the interpolated text must contain an unescaped interpolation expression. As such,
-     * this is typically useful only when user-data is used in rendering a template from the server, or
-     * when otherwise untrusted data is used by a directive.
-     *
      * <example>
      *  <file name="index.html">
      *    <div ng-init="username='A user'">
@@ -232,10 +232,13 @@ function $InterpolateProvider() {
      * - `context`: evaluation context for all expressions embedded in the interpolated text
      */
     function $interpolate(text, mustHaveExpression, trustedContext, allOrNothing) {
+      var hasEscapedMarkers = text.length &&
+          (text.indexOf(escapedStartSymbol) !== -1 || text.indexOf(escapedEndSymbol) !== -1);
+
       // Provide a quick exit and simplified result function for text with no interpolation
       if (!text.length || text.indexOf(startSymbol) === -1) {
         var constantInterp;
-        if (!mustHaveExpression) {
+        if (!mustHaveExpression || hasEscapedMarkers) {
           var unescapedText = unescapeText(text);
           constantInterp = valueFn(unescapedText);
           constantInterp.exp = text;
@@ -257,8 +260,8 @@ function $InterpolateProvider() {
           expressionPositions = [];
 
       while (index < textLength) {
-        if (((startIndex = text.indexOf(startSymbol, index)) != -1) &&
-             ((endIndex = text.indexOf(endSymbol, startIndex + startSymbolLength)) != -1)) {
+        if (((startIndex = text.indexOf(startSymbol, index)) !== -1) &&
+            ((endIndex = text.indexOf(endSymbol, startIndex + startSymbolLength)) !== -1)) {
           if (index !== startIndex) {
             concat.push(unescapeText(text.substring(index, startIndex)));
           }
@@ -332,6 +335,12 @@ function $InterpolateProvider() {
             });
           }
         });
+      } else if (hasEscapedMarkers) {
+        return extend(valueFn(unescapeText(text)), {
+          exp: text,
+          expressions: [],
+          $$watchDelegate: constantWatchDelegate
+        });
       }
 
       function parseStringifyInterceptor(value) {
diff --git a/test/ng/interpolateSpec.js b/test/ng/interpolateSpec.js
index 2c23536ef4eb..91f4fa158d8f 100644
--- a/test/ng/interpolateSpec.js
+++ b/test/ng/interpolateSpec.js
@@ -200,6 +200,47 @@ describe('$interpolate', function() {
     }));
 
 
+    it('should always unescape markers in uninterpolated strings', inject(function($interpolate) {
+        // Exercise the "quick exit" path
+        expect($interpolate('\\{\\{foo\\}\\}', false)(obj)).toBe('{{foo}}');
+        expect($interpolate('\\{\\{foo\\}\\}', true)(obj)).toBe('{{foo}}');
+
+        // Exercise the "slow" path, where we can't immediately tell that there are no expressions
+        expect($interpolate('}}{{\\{\\{foo\\}\\}', false)(obj)).toBe('}}{{{{foo}}');
+        expect($interpolate('}}{{\\{\\{foo\\}\\}', true)(obj)).toBe('}}{{{{foo}}');
+      })
+    );
+
+
+    it('should always unescape custom markers in uninterpolated strings', function() {
+      module(function($interpolateProvider) {
+        $interpolateProvider.startSymbol('[[');
+        $interpolateProvider.endSymbol(']]');
+      });
+      inject(function($interpolate) {
+        // Exercise the "quick exit" path
+        expect($interpolate('\\[\\[foo\\]\\]', false)(obj)).toBe('[[foo]]');
+        expect($interpolate('\\[\\[foo\\]\\]', true)(obj)).toBe('[[foo]]');
+
+        // Exercise the "slow" path, where we can't immediately tell that there are no expressions
+        expect($interpolate(']][[\\[\\[foo\\]\\]', false)(obj)).toBe(']][[[[foo]]');
+        expect($interpolate(']][[\\[\\[foo\\]\\]', true)(obj)).toBe(']][[[[foo]]');
+      });
+    });
+
+
+    it('should not interpolate escaped expressions after unescaping',
+      inject(function($compile, $rootScope) {
+        var elem = $compile('<div>\\{\\{foo\\}\\}</div>')($rootScope);
+        $rootScope.foo = 'bar';
+        $rootScope.$digest();
+        $rootScope.$digest();
+
+        expect(elem.text()).toBe('{{foo}}');
+      })
+    );
+
+
     // This test demonstrates that the web-server is responsible for escaping every single instance
     // of interpolation start/end markers in an expression which they do not wish to evaluate,
     // because AngularJS will not protect them from being evaluated (due to the added complexity