diff --git a/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/ESSingleNodeTestCase.java b/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/ESSingleNodeTestCase.java
index 4443416208321..343614081c48c 100644
--- a/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/ESSingleNodeTestCase.java
+++ b/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/ESSingleNodeTestCase.java
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.MetaData;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.routing.allocation.DiskThresholdSettings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Priority;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.util.BigArrays;
@@ -127,6 +128,9 @@ public void tearDown() throws Exception {
                 metaData.persistentSettings().size(), equalTo(0));
         assertThat("test leaves transient cluster metadata behind: " + metaData.transientSettings().keySet(),
                 metaData.transientSettings().size(), equalTo(0));
+        GetIndexResponse indices = client().admin().indices().prepareGetIndex().addIndices("*").get();
+        assertThat("test leaves indices that were not deleted: " + Strings.arrayToCommaDelimitedString(indices.indices()),
+            indices.indices(), equalTo(Strings.EMPTY_ARRAY));
         if (resetNodeAfterTest()) {
             assert NODE != null;
             stopNode();