diff --git a/solr/CHANGES.txt b/solr/CHANGES.txt
index f0fc29bf4a84..eed141042b85 100644
--- a/solr/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/solr/CHANGES.txt
@@ -129,6 +129,8 @@ when told to. The admin UI now tells it to. (Nazerke Seidan, David Smiley)
 
 * SOLR-15414: Use ConfigSet API instead of Zookeeper data node to list out configsets available in Solr Admin UI. (Nazerke Seidan via Eric Pugh)
 
+* SOLR-15421: ConfigSet API also checks for solrconfig.xml when checking the existence of a configset (Andras Salamon via David Smiley)
+
 Other Changes
 ----------------------
 * SOLR-14656: Autoscaling framework removed (Ishan Chattopadhyaya, noble, Ilan Ginzburg)
diff --git a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/ConfigSetCmds.java b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/ConfigSetCmds.java
index 5d5983a5f0c6..8568f1493acb 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/ConfigSetCmds.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/ConfigSetCmds.java
@@ -184,10 +184,6 @@ public static void deleteConfigSet(ZkNodeProps message, CoreContainer coreContai
   }
 
   private static void deleteConfigSet(String configSetName, boolean force, CoreContainer coreContainer) throws IOException {
-    if (!coreContainer.getConfigSetService().checkConfigExists(configSetName)) {
-      throw new SolrException(SolrException.ErrorCode.BAD_REQUEST, "ConfigSet does not exist to delete: " + configSetName);
-    }
-
     ZkStateReader zkStateReader = coreContainer.getZkController().getZkStateReader();
 
     for (Map.Entry<String, DocCollection> entry : zkStateReader.getClusterState().getCollectionsMap().entrySet()) {
diff --git a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/ZkConfigSetService.java b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/ZkConfigSetService.java
index 5c0c22b9a36e..3db4efe5932f 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/ZkConfigSetService.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/ZkConfigSetService.java
@@ -142,9 +142,9 @@ public String configSetName(CoreDescriptor cd) {
   @Override
   public boolean checkConfigExists(String configName) throws IOException {
     try {
-      Boolean existsConfig = zkClient.exists(CONFIGS_ZKNODE + "/" + configName, true);
-      if (existsConfig == null) return false;
-      return existsConfig;
+      Boolean existsSolrConfigXml = zkClient.exists(CONFIGS_ZKNODE + "/" + configName + "/solrconfig.xml", true);
+      if (existsSolrConfigXml == null) return false;
+      return existsSolrConfigXml;
     } catch (KeeperException | InterruptedException e) {
       throw new IOException("Error checking whether config exists",
               SolrZkClient.checkInterrupted(e));
diff --git a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/FileSystemConfigSetService.java b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/FileSystemConfigSetService.java
index 9db6245a36d1..a4029a207431 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/FileSystemConfigSetService.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/FileSystemConfigSetService.java
@@ -61,8 +61,8 @@ public String configSetName(CoreDescriptor cd) {
 
   @Override
   public boolean checkConfigExists(String configName) throws IOException {
-    Path configSetDirectory = configSetBase.resolve(configName);
-    return Files.isDirectory(configSetDirectory);
+    Path solrConfigXmlFile= configSetBase.resolve(configName).resolve("solrconfig.xml");
+    return Files.exists(solrConfigXmlFile);
   }
 
   @Override
diff --git a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/OverseerCollectionConfigSetProcessorTest.java b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/OverseerCollectionConfigSetProcessorTest.java
index 82e600ecb943..ab6ac68473b7 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/OverseerCollectionConfigSetProcessorTest.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/OverseerCollectionConfigSetProcessorTest.java
@@ -547,7 +547,8 @@ public Void answer(InvocationOnMock invocation) {
             return null;
           }}).when(distribStateManagerMock).makePath(anyString());
 
-    zkClientData.put("/configs/myconfig", new byte[1]);
+    zkClientData.put("/configs/"+CONFIG_NAME, new byte[1]);
+    zkClientData.put("/configs/"+CONFIG_NAME+"/solrconfig.xml", new byte[1]);
 
     when(solrMetricsContextMock.getChildContext(any(Object.class))).thenReturn(solrMetricsContextMock);
 
diff --git a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/TestConfigSetsAPI.java b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/TestConfigSetsAPI.java
index 1af32d27284d..45c5806aaaee 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/TestConfigSetsAPI.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/TestConfigSetsAPI.java
@@ -1121,10 +1121,6 @@ public void testDeleteErrors() throws Exception {
     DeleteNoErrorChecking delete = new DeleteNoErrorChecking();
     verifyException(solrClient, delete, NAME);
 
-    // ConfigSet doesn't exist
-    delete.setConfigSetName("configSetBogus");
-    verifyException(solrClient, delete, "ConfigSet does not exist");
-
     // ConfigSet is immutable
     delete.setConfigSetName("configSet");
     verifyException(solrClient, delete, "Requested delete of immutable ConfigSet");
@@ -1148,11 +1144,16 @@ public void testDelete() throws Exception {
     final SolrClient solrClient = getHttpSolrClient(baseUrl);
     final String configSet = "testDelete";
     getConfigSetService().uploadConfig(configSet, configset("configset-2"));
+    assertDelete(solrClient, configSet, true);
+    assertDelete(solrClient, "configSetBogus", false);
+    solrClient.close();
+  }
 
+  private void assertDelete(SolrClient solrClient, String configSet, boolean assertExists) throws IOException, SolrServerException {
     SolrZkClient zkClient = new SolrZkClient(cluster.getZkServer().getZkAddress(),
         AbstractZkTestCase.TIMEOUT, AbstractZkTestCase.TIMEOUT, null);
     try {
-      assertTrue(getConfigSetService().checkConfigExists(configSet));
+      assertEquals(assertExists, getConfigSetService().checkConfigExists(configSet));
 
       Delete delete = new Delete();
       delete.setConfigSetName(configSet);
@@ -1162,8 +1163,6 @@ public void testDelete() throws Exception {
     } finally {
       zkClient.close();
     }
-
-    solrClient.close();
   }
 
   @Test