diff --git a/helm-chart/binderhub/templates/deployment.yaml b/helm-chart/binderhub/templates/deployment.yaml
index 10bdc4475..5c1bfb7a6 100644
--- a/helm-chart/binderhub/templates/deployment.yaml
+++ b/helm-chart/binderhub/templates/deployment.yaml
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ spec:
               key: "binder.hub-token"
         {{- if .Values.config.BinderHub.auth_enabled }}
         - name: JUPYTERHUB_API_URL
-          value: {{ (print (.Values.config.BinderHub.hub_url | trimSuffix "/") "/hub/api/") }}
+          value: {{ print (.Values.config.BinderHub.hub_url | default "" | trimSuffix "/") "/hub/api/" }}
         - name: JUPYTERHUB_BASE_URL
           value: {{ .Values.jupyterhub.hub.baseUrl | quote }}
         - name: JUPYTERHUB_CLIENT_ID
diff --git a/helm-chart/images/binderhub/binderhub_config.py b/helm-chart/images/binderhub/binderhub_config.py
index 2dd52a4ea..390e1ed7f 100644
--- a/helm-chart/images/binderhub/binderhub_config.py
+++ b/helm-chart/images/binderhub/binderhub_config.py
@@ -84,8 +84,9 @@ def get_value(key, default=None):
     c.BinderHub.build_namespace = os.environ['BUILD_NAMESPACE']
 
 if c.BinderHub.auth_enabled:
-    hub_url = urlparse(c.BinderHub.hub_url)
-    c.HubOAuth.hub_host = '{}://{}'.format(hub_url.scheme, hub_url.netloc)
+    if "hub_url" in c.BinderHub:
+        hub_url = urlparse(c.BinderHub.hub_url)
+        c.HubOAuth.hub_host = '{}://{}'.format(hub_url.scheme, hub_url.netloc)
     if 'base_url' in c.BinderHub:
         c.HubOAuth.base_url = c.BinderHub.base_url