diff --git a/src/Type.h b/src/Type.h
index b967524be4..e006627f90 100644
--- a/src/Type.h
+++ b/src/Type.h
@@ -1024,7 +1024,7 @@ inline bool IsString(TypeTag t)
 	return (t == TYPE_STRING);
 	}
 
-// True if the given type is a container aggregate.
+// True if the given type is an aggregate.
 inline bool IsAggr(TypeTag tag)
 	{
 	return tag == TYPE_VECTOR || tag == TYPE_TABLE || tag == TYPE_RECORD;
@@ -1038,6 +1038,12 @@ inline bool IsAggr(const TypePtr& t)
 	return IsAggr(t->Tag());
 	}
 
+// True if the given type is a container.
+inline bool IsContainer(TypeTag tag)
+	{
+	return tag == TYPE_VECTOR || tag == TYPE_TABLE;
+	}
+
 // True if the given type tag corresponds to the error type.
 inline bool IsErrorType(TypeTag t)
 	{
diff --git a/src/Var.cc b/src/Var.cc
index a21abb2e73..0686363121 100644
--- a/src/Var.cc
+++ b/src/Var.cc
@@ -381,7 +381,7 @@ static void make_var(const IDPtr& id, TypePtr t, InitClass c, ExprPtr init,
 
 	if ( dt == VAR_OPTION )
 		{
-		if ( ! init )
+		if ( ! init && ! IsContainer(t->Tag()) )
 			id->Error("option variable must be initialized");
 
 		id->SetOption();
diff --git a/testing/btest/Baseline/language.container-option-init/out b/testing/btest/Baseline/language.container-option-init/out
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bcb5908cea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testing/btest/Baseline/language.container-option-init/out
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+### BTest baseline data generated by btest-diff. Do not edit. Use "btest -U/-u" to update. Requires BTest >= 0.63.
+0
+0
+0
diff --git a/testing/btest/Baseline/language.record-option-init/out b/testing/btest/Baseline/language.record-option-init/out
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..49d861c74c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testing/btest/Baseline/language.record-option-init/out
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+### BTest baseline data generated by btest-diff. Do not edit. Use "btest -U/-u" to update. Requires BTest >= 0.63.
diff --git a/testing/btest/language/container-option-init.zeek b/testing/btest/language/container-option-init.zeek
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7f8590f684
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testing/btest/language/container-option-init.zeek
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+# Ensures that an error doesn't print out for option variables
+# that are containers. These get automatically initialized so
+# there's no need to manually initialize them.
+
+# @TEST-EXEC: zeek -b %INPUT > out
+# @TEST-EXEC: btest-diff out
+
+option foo: set[count] &redef;
+option foo2: table[count] of count &redef;
+option foo3: vector of count &redef;
+
+print |foo|;
+print |foo2|;
+print |foo3|;
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/testing/btest/language/record-option-init.zeek b/testing/btest/language/record-option-init.zeek
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b633c7a5d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testing/btest/language/record-option-init.zeek
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# Ensures that an error is printed out for option variables
+# that are containers if they aren't initialized.
+
+# @TEST-EXEC-FAIL: zeek -b %INPUT > out
+# @TEST-EXEC: btest-diff out
+
+@load misc/stats
+
+type TestRecord: record {
+	a: count;
+	b: Stats::Info &optional;
+};
+
+option foo: TestRecord &redef;
+
+event zeek_init()
+	{
+	print foo;
+	}