diff --git a/modules/bigtable-instance/README.md b/modules/bigtable-instance/README.md
index 1d425a640c..1e9ade9c9e 100644
--- a/modules/bigtable-instance/README.md
+++ b/modules/bigtable-instance/README.md
@@ -102,13 +102,13 @@ module "bigtable-instance" {
 | [name](variables.tf#L56) | The name of the Cloud Bigtable instance. | <code>string</code> | ✓ |  |
 | [project_id](variables.tf#L67) | Id of the project where datasets will be created. | <code>string</code> | ✓ |  |
 | [zone](variables.tf#L99) | The zone to create the Cloud Bigtable cluster in. | <code>string</code> | ✓ |  |
-| [autoscaling_config](variables.tf#L17) | Settings for autoscaling of the instance. Only one of autoscaling_config or num_nodes should be set. | <code title="object&#40;&#123;&#10;  min_nodes      &#61; number&#10;  max_nodes      &#61; number&#10;  cpu_target     &#61; number,&#10;  storage_target &#61; optional&#40;number, null&#41;&#10;&#125;&#41;">object&#40;&#123;&#8230;&#125;&#41;</code> |  | <code>null</code> |
+| [autoscaling_config](variables.tf#L17) | Settings for autoscaling of the instance. If you set this variable, the variable num_nodes is ignored. | <code title="object&#40;&#123;&#10;  min_nodes      &#61; number&#10;  max_nodes      &#61; number&#10;  cpu_target     &#61; number,&#10;  storage_target &#61; optional&#40;number, null&#41;&#10;&#125;&#41;">object&#40;&#123;&#8230;&#125;&#41;</code> |  | <code>null</code> |
 | [cluster_id](variables.tf#L28) | The ID of the Cloud Bigtable cluster. | <code>string</code> |  | <code>&#34;europe-west1&#34;</code> |
 | [deletion_protection](variables.tf#L34) | Whether or not to allow Terraform to destroy the instance. Unless this field is set to false in Terraform state, a terraform destroy or terraform apply that would delete the instance will fail. | <code></code> |  | <code>true</code> |
 | [display_name](variables.tf#L39) | The human-readable display name of the Bigtable instance. | <code></code> |  | <code>null</code> |
 | [iam](variables.tf#L44) | IAM bindings for topic in {ROLE => [MEMBERS]} format. | <code>map&#40;list&#40;string&#41;&#41;</code> |  | <code>&#123;&#125;</code> |
 | [instance_type](variables.tf#L50) | (deprecated) The instance type to create. One of 'DEVELOPMENT' or 'PRODUCTION'. | <code>string</code> |  | <code>null</code> |
-| [num_nodes](variables.tf#L61) | The number of nodes in your Cloud Bigtable cluster. For production instances, you must set this option to a specific number if you are not using autoscaling. | <code>number</code> |  | <code>null</code> |
+| [num_nodes](variables.tf#L61) | The number of nodes in your Cloud Bigtable cluster. This value is ignored if you are using autoscaling. | <code>number</code> |  | <code>1</code> |
 | [storage_type](variables.tf#L72) | The storage type to use. | <code>string</code> |  | <code>&#34;SSD&#34;</code> |
 | [table_options_defaults](variables.tf#L78) | Default option of tables created in the BigTable instance. | <code title="object&#40;&#123;&#10;  split_keys    &#61; list&#40;string&#41;&#10;  column_family &#61; string&#10;&#125;&#41;">object&#40;&#123;&#8230;&#125;&#41;</code> |  | <code title="&#123;&#10;  split_keys    &#61; &#91;&#93;&#10;  column_family &#61; null&#10;&#125;">&#123;&#8230;&#125;</code> |
 | [tables](variables.tf#L90) | Tables to be created in the BigTable instance, options can be null. | <code title="map&#40;object&#40;&#123;&#10;  split_keys    &#61; list&#40;string&#41;&#10;  column_family &#61; string&#10;&#125;&#41;&#41;">map&#40;object&#40;&#123;&#8230;&#125;&#41;&#41;</code> |  | <code>&#123;&#125;</code> |
diff --git a/modules/bigtable-instance/main.tf b/modules/bigtable-instance/main.tf
index 75e21d5a3a..b5764c3493 100644
--- a/modules/bigtable-instance/main.tf
+++ b/modules/bigtable-instance/main.tf
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ locals {
   tables = {
     for k, v in var.tables : k => v != null ? v : var.table_options_defaults
   }
+  num_nodes = var.autoscaling_config == null ? var.num_nodes : null
 }
 
 resource "google_bigtable_instance" "default" {
@@ -27,7 +28,7 @@ resource "google_bigtable_instance" "default" {
     cluster_id   = var.cluster_id
     zone         = var.zone
     storage_type = var.storage_type
-    num_nodes    = var.num_nodes
+    num_nodes    = local.num_nodes
     dynamic "autoscaling_config" {
       for_each = var.autoscaling_config == null ? [] : [""]
       content {
diff --git a/modules/bigtable-instance/variables.tf b/modules/bigtable-instance/variables.tf
index 3629454e7c..84a6013b60 100644
--- a/modules/bigtable-instance/variables.tf
+++ b/modules/bigtable-instance/variables.tf
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
  */
 
 variable "autoscaling_config" {
-  description = "Settings for autoscaling of the instance. Only one of autoscaling_config or num_nodes should be set."
+  description = "Settings for autoscaling of the instance. If you set this variable, the variable num_nodes is ignored."
   type = object({
     min_nodes      = number
     max_nodes      = number
@@ -59,9 +59,9 @@ variable "name" {
 }
 
 variable "num_nodes" {
-  description = "The number of nodes in your Cloud Bigtable cluster. For production instances, you must set this option to a specific number if you are not using autoscaling."
+  description = "The number of nodes in your Cloud Bigtable cluster. This value is ignored if you are using autoscaling."
   type        = number
-  default     = null
+  default     = 1
 }
 
 variable "project_id" {