diff --git a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/kafka/ConcurrentKafkaListenerContainerFactoryConfigurer.java b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/kafka/ConcurrentKafkaListenerContainerFactoryConfigurer.java
index 0fddd28961..1631f5980d 100644
--- a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/kafka/ConcurrentKafkaListenerContainerFactoryConfigurer.java
+++ b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/kafka/ConcurrentKafkaListenerContainerFactoryConfigurer.java
@@ -158,6 +158,7 @@ public class ConcurrentKafkaListenerContainerFactoryConfigurer {
 		map.from(properties::getMonitorInterval).as(Duration::getSeconds)
 				.as(Number::intValue).to(container::setMonitorInterval);
 		map.from(properties::getLogContainerConfig).to(container::setLogContainerConfig);
+		map.from(properties::isMissingTopicsFatal).to(container::setMissingTopicsFatal);
 		map.from(this.transactionManager).to(container::setTransactionManager);
 	}
 
diff --git a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/kafka/KafkaProperties.java b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/kafka/KafkaProperties.java
index 81be6990e2..1d51bc0c11 100644
--- a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/kafka/KafkaProperties.java
+++ b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/kafka/KafkaProperties.java
@@ -873,6 +873,12 @@ public class KafkaProperties {
 		 */
 		private Boolean logContainerConfig;
 
+		/**
+		 * Whether the container should fail to start if at least one of the configured
+		 * topics are not present on the broker.
+		 */
+		private boolean missingTopicsFatal = true;
+
 		public Type getType() {
 			return this.type;
 		}
@@ -961,6 +967,14 @@ public class KafkaProperties {
 			this.logContainerConfig = logContainerConfig;
 		}
 
+		public boolean isMissingTopicsFatal() {
+			return this.missingTopicsFatal;
+		}
+
+		public void setMissingTopicsFatal(boolean missingTopicsFatal) {
+			this.missingTopicsFatal = missingTopicsFatal;
+		}
+
 	}
 
 	public static class Ssl {
diff --git a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/kafka/KafkaAutoConfigurationTests.java b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/kafka/KafkaAutoConfigurationTests.java
index ae5aa6f431..935af69698 100644
--- a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/kafka/KafkaAutoConfigurationTests.java
+++ b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/kafka/KafkaAutoConfigurationTests.java
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ import org.apache.kafka.streams.StreamsConfig;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 
 import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.AutoConfigurations;
+import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.kafka.KafkaProperties.Listener;
 import org.springframework.boot.test.context.runner.ApplicationContextRunner;
 import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
 import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
@@ -457,6 +458,7 @@ public class KafkaAutoConfigurationTests {
 						"spring.kafka.listener.idle-event-interval=1s",
 						"spring.kafka.listener.monitor-interval=45",
 						"spring.kafka.listener.log-container-config=true",
+						"spring.kafka.listener.missing-topics-fatal=false",
 						"spring.kafka.jaas.enabled=true",
 						"spring.kafka.producer.transaction-id-prefix=foo",
 						"spring.kafka.jaas.login-module=foo",
@@ -491,6 +493,7 @@ public class KafkaAutoConfigurationTests {
 							.isEqualTo(1000L);
 					assertThat(containerProperties.getMonitorInterval()).isEqualTo(45);
 					assertThat(containerProperties.isLogContainerConfig()).isTrue();
+					assertThat(containerProperties.isMissingTopicsFatal()).isFalse();
 					assertThat(ReflectionTestUtils.getField(kafkaListenerContainerFactory,
 							"concurrency")).isEqualTo(3);
 					assertThat(kafkaListenerContainerFactory.isBatchListener()).isTrue();
@@ -509,6 +512,19 @@ public class KafkaAutoConfigurationTests {
 				});
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void listenerPropertiesMatchDefaults() {
+		this.contextRunner.run((context) -> {
+			Listener listenerProperties = new KafkaProperties().getListener();
+			AbstractKafkaListenerContainerFactory<?, ?, ?> kafkaListenerContainerFactory = (AbstractKafkaListenerContainerFactory<?, ?, ?>) context
+					.getBean(KafkaListenerContainerFactory.class);
+			ContainerProperties containerProperties = kafkaListenerContainerFactory
+					.getContainerProperties();
+			assertThat(containerProperties.isMissingTopicsFatal())
+					.isEqualTo(listenerProperties.isMissingTopicsFatal());
+		});
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	public void testKafkaTemplateRecordMessageConverters() {
 		this.contextRunner.withUserConfiguration(MessageConverterConfiguration.class)