diff --git a/spring-integration-kafka/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/kafka/config/xml/KafkaOutboundChannelAdapterParser.java b/spring-integration-kafka/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/kafka/config/xml/KafkaOutboundChannelAdapterParser.java
index 657b3c3b16..29ef3e8740 100644
--- a/spring-integration-kafka/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/kafka/config/xml/KafkaOutboundChannelAdapterParser.java
+++ b/spring-integration-kafka/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/kafka/config/xml/KafkaOutboundChannelAdapterParser.java
@@ -67,9 +67,6 @@ public class KafkaOutboundChannelAdapterParser extends AbstractOutboundChannelAd
 			kafkaProducerMessageHandlerBuilder.addPropertyValue("partitionIdExpression", partitionIdExpressionDef);
 		}
 
-		IntegrationNamespaceUtils.setValueIfAttributeDefined(kafkaProducerMessageHandlerBuilder, element,
-				"enable-header-routing");
-
 		return kafkaProducerMessageHandlerBuilder.getBeanDefinition();
 	}
 
diff --git a/spring-integration-kafka/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/kafka/outbound/KafkaProducerMessageHandler.java b/spring-integration-kafka/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/kafka/outbound/KafkaProducerMessageHandler.java
index f8120e6090..f082e2c161 100644
--- a/spring-integration-kafka/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/kafka/outbound/KafkaProducerMessageHandler.java
+++ b/spring-integration-kafka/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/kafka/outbound/KafkaProducerMessageHandler.java
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import org.springframework.kafka.core.KafkaTemplate;
 import org.springframework.kafka.support.KafkaHeaders;
 import org.springframework.messaging.Message;
 import org.springframework.util.Assert;
+import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
 
 /**
  * Kafka Message Handler.
@@ -43,8 +44,6 @@ public class KafkaProducerMessageHandler<K, V> extends AbstractMessageHandler {
 
 	private EvaluationContext evaluationContext;
 
-	private boolean enableHeaderRouting = true;
-
 	private volatile Expression topicExpression;
 
 	private volatile Expression messageKeyExpression;
@@ -56,19 +55,6 @@ public class KafkaProducerMessageHandler<K, V> extends AbstractMessageHandler {
 		this.kafkaTemplate = kafkaTemplate;
 	}
 
-	/**
-	 * Enable the use of headers for determining the target topic and partition of outbound messages. By default it is
-	 * set to true, but it can be disabled when those values are produced by upstream components that read messages
-	 * from Kafka sources themselves.
-	 * @param enableHeaderRouting whether the topic and destination headers should be considered
-	 * @since 1.3
-	 * @see KafkaHeaders#TOPIC
-	 * @see KafkaHeaders#PARTITION_ID
-	 */
-	public void setEnableHeaderRouting(boolean enableHeaderRouting) {
-		this.enableHeaderRouting = enableHeaderRouting;
-	}
-
 	public void setTopicExpression(Expression topicExpression) {
 		this.topicExpression = topicExpression;
 	}
@@ -77,16 +63,6 @@ public class KafkaProducerMessageHandler<K, V> extends AbstractMessageHandler {
 		this.messageKeyExpression = messageKeyExpression;
 	}
 
-	/**
-	 * Set the partition expression.
-	 * @param partitionExpression an expression that returns a partition id
-	 * @deprecated as of 1.3, {@link #setPartitionIdExpression(Expression)} should be used instead
-	 */
-	@Deprecated
-	public void setPartitionExpression(Expression partitionExpression) {
-		setPartitionIdExpression(partitionExpression);
-	}
-
 	public void setPartitionIdExpression(Expression partitionIdExpression) {
 		this.partitionIdExpression = partitionIdExpression;
 	}
@@ -106,12 +82,13 @@ public class KafkaProducerMessageHandler<K, V> extends AbstractMessageHandler {
 	protected void handleMessageInternal(final Message<?> message) throws Exception {
 		String topic = this.topicExpression != null ?
 				this.topicExpression.getValue(this.evaluationContext, message, String.class)
-				//TODO revise the headers fallback behavior in favor of just expression
-				: (this.enableHeaderRouting ? message.getHeaders().get(KafkaHeaders.TOPIC, String.class) : null);
+				: message.getHeaders().get(KafkaHeaders.TOPIC, String.class);
+
+		Assert.state(StringUtils.hasText(topic), "The 'topic' can not be empty or null");
 
 		Integer partitionId = this.partitionIdExpression != null ?
 				this.partitionIdExpression.getValue(this.evaluationContext, message, Integer.class)
-				: (this.enableHeaderRouting ? message.getHeaders().get(KafkaHeaders.PARTITION_ID, Integer.class) : null);
+				: message.getHeaders().get(KafkaHeaders.PARTITION_ID, Integer.class);
 
 		Object messageKey = this.messageKeyExpression != null
 				? this.messageKeyExpression.getValue(this.evaluationContext, message)
diff --git a/spring-integration-kafka/src/main/resources/org/springframework/integration/kafka/config/spring-integration-kafka-2.0.xsd b/spring-integration-kafka/src/main/resources/org/springframework/integration/kafka/config/spring-integration-kafka-2.0.xsd
index 96208456b8..8cd912deb2 100644
--- a/spring-integration-kafka/src/main/resources/org/springframework/integration/kafka/config/spring-integration-kafka-2.0.xsd
+++ b/spring-integration-kafka/src/main/resources/org/springframework/integration/kafka/config/spring-integration-kafka-2.0.xsd
@@ -96,14 +96,6 @@
 							]]></xsd:documentation>
 				</xsd:annotation>
 			</xsd:attribute>
-			<xsd:attribute name="enable-header-routing" type="xsd:string">
-				<xsd:annotation>
-					<xsd:documentation><![CDATA[
-								Enables the use of message headers for routing messages to specific topics and
-								partitions.
-							]]></xsd:documentation>
-				</xsd:annotation>
-			</xsd:attribute>
 			<xsd:attribute name="order">
 				<xsd:annotation>
 					<xsd:documentation>
diff --git a/spring-integration-kafka/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/kafka/config/xml/KafkaOutboundAdapterParserTests.java b/spring-integration-kafka/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/kafka/config/xml/KafkaOutboundAdapterParserTests.java
index e0acb89455..6d32da9126 100644
--- a/spring-integration-kafka/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/kafka/config/xml/KafkaOutboundAdapterParserTests.java
+++ b/spring-integration-kafka/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/kafka/config/xml/KafkaOutboundAdapterParserTests.java
@@ -52,7 +52,6 @@ public class KafkaOutboundAdapterParserTests {
 		assertThat(TestUtils.getPropertyValue(messageHandler, "topicExpression.literalValue")).isEqualTo("foo");
 		assertThat(TestUtils.getPropertyValue(messageHandler, "messageKeyExpression.expression")).isEqualTo("'bar'");
 		assertThat(TestUtils.getPropertyValue(messageHandler, "partitionIdExpression.expression")).isEqualTo("2");
-		assertThat(TestUtils.getPropertyValue(messageHandler, "enableHeaderRouting")).isEqualTo(Boolean.TRUE);
 	}
 
 }