diff --git a/src/kvstore.c b/src/kvstore.c
index eaef1fd35..a25f928ce 100644
--- a/src/kvstore.c
+++ b/src/kvstore.c
@@ -385,9 +385,10 @@ unsigned long long kvstoreScan(kvstore *kvs, unsigned long long cursor,
  */
 int kvstoreExpand(kvstore *kvs, uint64_t newsize, int try_expand, kvstoreExpandShouldSkipDictIndex *skip_cb) {
     for (int i = 0; i < kvs->num_dicts; i++) {
-        dict *d = kvstoreGetDict(kvs, i);
-        if (!d || (skip_cb && skip_cb(i)))
-            continue;
+        if (skip_cb && skip_cb(i)) continue;
+        dict *d = createDictIfNeeded(kvs, i);
+        if (!d) continue;
+
         int result = try_expand ? dictTryExpand(d, newsize) : dictExpand(d, newsize);
         if (try_expand && result == DICT_ERR)
             return 0;
diff --git a/src/rdb.c b/src/rdb.c
index 1d0a7e025..6e4506481 100644
--- a/src/rdb.c
+++ b/src/rdb.c
@@ -3902,6 +3902,8 @@ int rdbLoadRioWithLoadingCtx(rio *rdb, int rdbflags, rdbSaveInfo *rsi, rdbLoadin
             dbExpand(db, db_size, 0);
             dbExpandExpires(db, expires_size, 0);
             should_expand_db = 0;
+            serverLog(LL_VERBOSE, "DB %d resized: %lu key buckets, %lu expire buckets",
+                        db->id, kvstoreBuckets(db->keys), kvstoreBuckets(db->expires));
         }
 
         /* With metadata, type = RDB_OPCODE_KEY_META. Layout: [<META>,]<TYPE>,<KEY>,<VALUE> */
diff --git a/tests/integration/rdb.tcl b/tests/integration/rdb.tcl
index 1daebdec9..642a5d048 100644
--- a/tests/integration/rdb.tcl
+++ b/tests/integration/rdb.tcl
@@ -80,6 +80,23 @@ start_server [list overrides [list "dir" $server_path] keep_persistence true] {
     r del stream
 }
 
+start_server {overrides {loglevel verbose}} {
+    test {RDB load applies RESIZEDB hint to expand hash tables} {
+        # Populate keys and save RDB
+        r flushall sync
+        regexp {db=(\d+)} [r client info] -> dbid
+        # 500 keys with 3600 second expiration, 500 without
+        populate 500 "key1:" 3 0 false 3600
+        populate 500 "key2:" 3 0 false 0
+        r save
+
+        restart_server 0 true false
+
+        # Verify DB resize log message
+        verify_log_message 0 "*DB $dbid resized*1024 key*512 expire*" 0
+    }
+}
+
 # Helper function to start a server and kill it, just to check the error
 # logged.
 set defaults {}