diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 4fb29b9f..bac6d542 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ The **patch** part changes incrementally at each release.
 
 * add default (useless) value for file lookup (first_found)
 * fix pipefail option for shell invocations
+* elasticsearch: inline YAML formatting of seed_hosts and initial_master_nodes
 * evolinux-base: fix motd lookup path
 * ldap: fix edge cases where passwords were not set/get properly
 * listupgrade: fix wget error + shellcheck cleanup
diff --git a/elasticsearch/tasks/configuration.yml b/elasticsearch/tasks/configuration.yml
index 72d36bb3..5afa94b0 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/tasks/configuration.yml
+++ b/elasticsearch/tasks/configuration.yml
@@ -52,18 +52,36 @@
 - name: Configure discovery seed hosts
   lineinfile:
     dest: /etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml
-    line: "discovery.seed_hosts: {{ elasticsearch_discovery_seed_hosts | to_yaml }}"
+    line: "discovery.seed_hosts: {{ elasticsearch_discovery_seed_hosts | to_yaml(default_flow_style=True) }}"
     regexp: "^discovery.seed_hosts:"
-  when: elasticsearch_discovery_seed_hosts | length > 0
+  when: elasticsearch_discovery_seed_hosts | default([], True) | length > 0
+  tags:
+    - config
+
+- name: Configure empty discovery seed hosts
+  lineinfile:
+    dest: /etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml
+    regexp: "^discovery.seed_hosts:"
+    state: absent
+  when: elasticsearch_discovery_seed_hosts | default([], True) | length <= 0
   tags:
     - config
 
 - name: Configure initial master nodes
   lineinfile:
     dest: /etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml
-    line: "cluster.initial_master_nodes: {{ elasticsearch_cluster_initial_master_nodes | to_yaml }}"
+    line: "cluster.initial_master_nodes: {{ elasticsearch_cluster_initial_master_nodes | to_yaml(default_flow_style=True) }}"
     regexp: "^cluster.initial_master_nodes:"
-  when: elasticsearch_cluster_initial_master_nodes | length > 0
+  when: elasticsearch_cluster_initial_master_nodes | default([], True) | length > 0
+  tags:
+    - config
+
+- name: Configure empty initial master nodes
+  lineinfile:
+    dest: /etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml
+    regexp: "^cluster.initial_master_nodes:"
+    state: absent
+  when: elasticsearch_cluster_initial_master_nodes | default([], True) | length <= 0
   tags:
     - config