diff --git a/src/plugins/dashboard/public/plugin.tsx b/src/plugins/dashboard/public/plugin.tsx
index b787ffe47122..16c819d6a1d9 100644
--- a/src/plugins/dashboard/public/plugin.tsx
+++ b/src/plugins/dashboard/public/plugin.tsx
@@ -374,6 +374,13 @@ export class DashboardPlugin
       mount: async (params: AppMountParameters) => {
         const [coreStart, pluginsStart, dashboardStart] = await core.getStartServices();
         this.currentHistory = params.history;
+
+        // make sure the index pattern list is up to date
+        pluginsStart.data.indexPatterns.clearCache();
+        // make sure a default index pattern exists
+        // if not, the page will be redirected to management and dashboard won't be rendered
+        await pluginsStart.data.indexPatterns.ensureDefaultIndexPattern();
+
         appMounted();
         const {
           embeddable: embeddableStart,