diff --git a/lib/grunt/file.js b/lib/grunt/file.js
index c9a7eaeb6..b8c83322c 100644
--- a/lib/grunt/file.js
+++ b/lib/grunt/file.js
@@ -211,7 +211,13 @@ file.recurse = function recurse(rootdir, callback, subdir) {
   var abspath = subdir ? path.join(rootdir, subdir) : rootdir;
   fs.readdirSync(abspath).forEach(function(filename) {
     var filepath = path.join(abspath, filename);
-    if (fs.statSync(filepath).isDirectory()) {
+    var isDirectory = false;
+    try {
+        isDirectory = fs.statSync(filepath).isDirectory();
+    } catch (e) {
+        grunt.log.error(e);
+    }
+    if (isDirectory) {
       recurse(rootdir, callback, unixifyPath(path.join(subdir || '', filename || '')));
     } else {
       callback(unixifyPath(filepath), rootdir, subdir, filename);
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 1a0d6d1c9..66bcda329 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -74,4 +74,4 @@
     "semver": "2.1.0",
     "shelljs": "~0.2.5"
   }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/test/fixtures/symlinks/bad-symlink b/test/fixtures/symlinks/bad-symlink
new file mode 120000
index 000000000..850f348b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/symlinks/bad-symlink
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+thing-to-link-to.txt
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/grunt/file_test.js b/test/grunt/file_test.js
index 613ddc330..69d604fb6 100644
--- a/test/grunt/file_test.js
+++ b/test/grunt/file_test.js
@@ -723,6 +723,23 @@ exports['file'] = {
 
     test.done();
   },
+  'recurse bad symlink': function(test) {
+    var rootdir = 'test/fixtures/symlinks';
+
+    var expected = {};
+    expected[rootdir+'/bad-symlink'] = [rootdir, 'bad-symlink'];
+
+    var actual = {};
+    try{
+      grunt.file.recurse(rootdir, function(abspath, rootdir, subdir, filename) {
+        actual[abspath] = [rootdir, filename];
+      });
+    } catch (e) {
+      // We log an error if the file doesn't exist, expected behavior
+    }
+    test.deepEqual(actual, expected, 'file recurse will process broken symlinks');
+    test.done();
+  },
   'recurse': function(test) {
     test.expect(1);
     var rootdir = 'test/fixtures/expand';