diff --git a/certbot-nginx/certbot_nginx/configurator.py b/certbot-nginx/certbot_nginx/configurator.py
index 0a8d2a88a..afa8b8087 100644
--- a/certbot-nginx/certbot_nginx/configurator.py
+++ b/certbot-nginx/certbot_nginx/configurator.py
@@ -338,11 +338,16 @@ class NginxConfigurator(common.Plugin):
         """
         snakeoil_cert, snakeoil_key = self._get_snakeoil_paths()
 
+        options_subblock = self.parser.loc["ssl_options"]
+        # the options file doesn't have a newline at the beginning, but there
+        # needs to be one when it's dropped into the file
+        if "\n" not in options_subblock[0]:
+            options_subblock[0].insert(0, "\n")
         ssl_block = (
             [['\n    ', 'listen', ' ', '{0} ssl'.format(self.config.tls_sni_01_port)],
              ['\n    ', 'ssl_certificate', ' ', snakeoil_cert],
              ['\n    ', 'ssl_certificate_key', ' ', snakeoil_key]] +
-            self.parser.loc["ssl_options"])
+            options_subblock)
 
         self.parser.add_server_directives(
             vhost.filep, vhost.names, ssl_block, replace=False)