diff --git a/changelog/55848.fixed b/changelog/55848.fixed
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..695830489268
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/55848.fixed
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Guard boto3_elasticsearch loading properly
diff --git a/salt/modules/boto3_elasticsearch.py b/salt/modules/boto3_elasticsearch.py
index dfbb41738059..bb46bb44009c 100644
--- a/salt/modules/boto3_elasticsearch.py
+++ b/salt/modules/boto3_elasticsearch.py
@@ -68,8 +68,9 @@
     from botocore.exceptions import ClientError, ParamValidationError, WaiterError
 
     logging.getLogger("boto3").setLevel(logging.INFO)
+    HAS_BOTO = True
 except ImportError:
-    pass
+    HAS_BOTO = False
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -79,12 +80,15 @@ def __virtual__():
     Only load if boto libraries exist and if boto libraries are greater than
     a given version.
     """
-    return salt.utils.versions.check_boto_reqs(boto3_ver="1.2.7")
+    return HAS_BOTO and salt.utils.versions.check_boto_reqs(
+        boto3_ver="1.2.7", check_boto=False
+    )
 
 
 def __init__(opts):
     _ = opts
-    __utils__["boto3.assign_funcs"](__name__, "es")
+    if HAS_BOTO:
+        __utils__["boto3.assign_funcs"](__name__, "es")
 
 
 def add_tags(
diff --git a/tests/unit/modules/test_boto3_elasticsearch.py b/tests/unit/modules/test_boto3_elasticsearch.py
index 0252d5737120..346ea4f8934e 100644
--- a/tests/unit/modules/test_boto3_elasticsearch.py
+++ b/tests/unit/modules/test_boto3_elasticsearch.py
@@ -1,28 +1,21 @@
-# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 """
     Tests for salt.modules.boto3_elasticsearch
 """
 
-# Import Python libs
-from __future__ import absolute_import, print_function, unicode_literals
 
 import datetime
 import random
 import string
 import textwrap
 
-# Import Salt libs
 import salt.loader
 import salt.modules.boto3_elasticsearch as boto3_elasticsearch
 from salt.ext.six.moves import range
 from salt.utils.versions import LooseVersion
-
-# Import Salt Testing libs
 from tests.support.mixins import LoaderModuleMockMixin
 from tests.support.mock import MagicMock, patch
 from tests.support.unit import TestCase, skipIf
 
-# Import 3rd-party libs
 try:
     import boto3
     from botocore.exceptions import ClientError
@@ -150,7 +143,7 @@ def setup_loader_modules(self):
         return {boto3_elasticsearch: {"__utils__": utils}}
 
     def setUp(self):
-        super(Boto3ElasticsearchTestCase, self).setUp()
+        super().setUp()
         boto3_elasticsearch.__init__(self.opts)
         del self.opts
 
@@ -383,6 +376,20 @@ def test_add_tags_positive(self):
                 {"result": True},
             )
 
+    def test_add_tags_default(self):
+        """
+        Test that when tags are not provided, no error is raised.
+        """
+        with patch.object(
+            self.conn,
+            "describe_elasticsearch_domain",
+            return_value={"DomainStatus": DOMAIN_RET},
+        ):
+            self.assertEqual(
+                boto3_elasticsearch.add_tags("testdomain", **CONN_PARAMETERS),
+                {"result": True},
+            )
+
     def test_add_tags_error(self):
         """
         Test that when adding tags fails, and boto3 returns an error,