diff --git a/nginx.tmpl b/nginx.tmpl
index 5405e7e..c72c1c7 100644
--- a/nginx.tmpl
+++ b/nginx.tmpl
@@ -407,16 +407,16 @@ gzip_types text/plain text/css application/javascript application/json applicati
      * LOG_FORMAT_ESCAPE sets the escape part of the log format
      * LOG_FORMAT        sets the log format
      */}}
-{{- $logEscape := printf "escape=%s" ( or $globals.Env.LOG_FORMAT_ESCAPE `default`) }}
-{{- $logFormat := (or $globals.Env.LOG_FORMAT `$host $remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local] "$request" $status $body_bytes_sent "$http_referer" "$http_user_agent" "$upstream_addr"`) }}
+{{- $logEscape := printf "escape=%s" (or $globals.Env.LOG_FORMAT_ESCAPE "default") }}
+{{- $logFormat := or $globals.Env.LOG_FORMAT `$host $remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local] "$request" $status $body_bytes_sent "$http_referer" "$http_user_agent" "$upstream_addr"` }}
 
-{{- if $globals.Env.LOG_JSON }}
-{{- /* LOG_JSON is a shorthand
-     * that sets logging defaults to JSON format
-     */}}
+{{- if parseBool (or $globals.Env.LOG_JSON "false") }}
+    {{- /* LOG_JSON is a shorthand
+        * that sets logging defaults to JSON format
+        */}}
 # JSON Logging enabled (via LOG_JSON env variable)
-{{- $logEscape = printf "escape=%s" ( or $globals.Env.LOG_FORMAT_ESCAPE `json`) }}
-{{- $logFormat = (or $globals.Env.LOG_FORMAT `{"time_local":"$time_iso8601","client_ip":"$http_x_forwarded_for","remote_addr":"$remote_addr","request":"$request","status":"$status","body_bytes_sent":"$body_bytes_sent","request_time":"$request_time","upstream_response_time":"$upstream_response_time","upstream_addr":"$upstream_addr","http_referrer":"$http_referer","http_user_agent":"$http_user_agent","request_id":"$request_id"}`) }}
+    {{- $logEscape = printf "escape=%s" (or $globals.Env.LOG_FORMAT_ESCAPE "json") }}
+    {{- $logFormat = or $globals.Env.LOG_FORMAT `{"time_local":"$time_iso8601","client_ip":"$http_x_forwarded_for","remote_addr":"$remote_addr","request":"$request","status":"$status","body_bytes_sent":"$body_bytes_sent","request_time":"$request_time","upstream_response_time":"$upstream_response_time","upstream_addr":"$upstream_addr","http_referrer":"$http_referer","http_user_agent":"$http_user_agent","request_id":"$request_id"}` }}
 {{- end }}
 
 log_format vhost {{ $logEscape }} '{{ or $globals.Env.LOG_FORMAT $logFormat }}';