diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/variables/var_file_overrides/output.txt b/acceptance/bundle/variables/var_file_overrides/output.txt
index 1f6184397..0cb274fc6 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/variables/var_file_overrides/output.txt
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/variables/var_file_overrides/output.txt
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ Exit code: 1
 }
 
 >>> errcode $CLI bundle validate -o json --target without-defaults --var-file=var_files/empty.json
-Error: no value assigned to required variable cluster_workers. Assignment can be done through the "--var" or "--var-file" flag or by setting the BUNDLE_VAR_cluster_workers environment variable
+Error: failed to read variables file: open var_files/empty.json: no such file or directory
 
 
 Exit code: 1
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/variables/var_file_overrides/var_files/empty.json b/acceptance/bundle/variables/var_file_overrides/var_files/empty.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 0967ef424..000000000
--- a/acceptance/bundle/variables/var_file_overrides/var_files/empty.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-{}
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/variables/var_file_overrides/var_files/without_required.json b/acceptance/bundle/variables/var_file_overrides/var_files/without_required.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..37e52b0fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/variables/var_file_overrides/var_files/without_required.json
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+  "cluster_key": "mlops_stacks-cluster"
+}