diff --git a/extensions/kafka-client/deployment/pom.xml b/extensions/kafka-client/deployment/pom.xml
index b8230b918680f..91301064431a1 100644
--- a/extensions/kafka-client/deployment/pom.xml
+++ b/extensions/kafka-client/deployment/pom.xml
@@ -27,6 +27,10 @@
             <artifactId>quarkus-junit5-internal</artifactId>
             <scope>test</scope>
         </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
+            <artifactId>quarkus-jackson-deployment</artifactId>
+        </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
             <artifactId>quarkus-arc-deployment</artifactId>
diff --git a/extensions/kafka-client/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kafka/client/deployment/KafkaProcessor.java b/extensions/kafka-client/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kafka/client/deployment/KafkaProcessor.java
index e2f3a62e73578..097c7e8aa037f 100644
--- a/extensions/kafka-client/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kafka/client/deployment/KafkaProcessor.java
+++ b/extensions/kafka-client/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kafka/client/deployment/KafkaProcessor.java
@@ -145,22 +145,25 @@ public void build(
             reflectiveClass.produce(new ReflectiveClassBuildItem(false, false, i.getName()));
             collectSubclasses(toRegister, indexBuildItem, i);
         }
+
+        // Kafka requires Jackson as it uses Jackson to handle authentication and some JSON utilities.
+        // See https://github.com/quarkusio/quarkus/issues/16769
+        // So, enable the Jackson support unconditionally.
+        reflectiveClass.produce(
+                new ReflectiveClassBuildItem(false, false, ObjectMapperSerializer.class,
+                        ObjectMapperDeserializer.class));
+        collectSubclasses(toRegister, indexBuildItem, ObjectMapperSerializer.class);
+        collectSubclasses(toRegister, indexBuildItem, ObjectMapperDeserializer.class);
+
+        // Make the `io.quarkus.jackson.runtime.ObjectMapperProducer` bean cannot be removed.
+        beans.produce(UnremovableBeanBuildItem.beanTypes(OBJECT_MAPPER));
+
         if (capabilities.isPresent(Capability.JSONB)) {
             reflectiveClass.produce(
                     new ReflectiveClassBuildItem(false, false, JsonbSerializer.class, JsonbDeserializer.class));
             collectSubclasses(toRegister, indexBuildItem, JsonbSerializer.class);
             collectSubclasses(toRegister, indexBuildItem, JsonbDeserializer.class);
         }
-        if (capabilities.isPresent(Capability.JACKSON)) {
-            reflectiveClass.produce(
-                    new ReflectiveClassBuildItem(false, false, ObjectMapperSerializer.class,
-                            ObjectMapperDeserializer.class));
-            collectSubclasses(toRegister, indexBuildItem, ObjectMapperSerializer.class);
-            collectSubclasses(toRegister, indexBuildItem, ObjectMapperDeserializer.class);
-
-            // Make the `io.quarkus.jackson.runtime.ObjectMapperProducer` bean cannot be removed.
-            beans.produce(UnremovableBeanBuildItem.beanTypes(OBJECT_MAPPER));
-        }
 
         for (DotName s : toRegister) {
             reflectiveClass.produce(new ReflectiveClassBuildItem(false, false, s.toString()));
diff --git a/extensions/kafka-client/runtime/pom.xml b/extensions/kafka-client/runtime/pom.xml
index 0aadb02763414..a32618d55b7a1 100644
--- a/extensions/kafka-client/runtime/pom.xml
+++ b/extensions/kafka-client/runtime/pom.xml
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@
         <dependency>
             <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
             <artifactId>quarkus-jackson</artifactId>
-            <optional>true</optional>
         </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
diff --git a/integration-tests/kafka-avro/pom.xml b/integration-tests/kafka-avro/pom.xml
index ec5178a4294cf..cdaf10ab13869 100644
--- a/integration-tests/kafka-avro/pom.xml
+++ b/integration-tests/kafka-avro/pom.xml
@@ -32,10 +32,6 @@
             <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
             <artifactId>quarkus-resteasy</artifactId>
         </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
-            <artifactId>quarkus-resteasy-jackson</artifactId>
-        </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
             <artifactId>quarkus-resteasy-jsonb</artifactId>
@@ -205,19 +201,6 @@
                 </exclusion>
             </exclusions>
         </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
-            <artifactId>quarkus-resteasy-jackson-deployment</artifactId>
-            <version>${project.version}</version>
-            <type>pom</type>
-            <scope>test</scope>
-            <exclusions>
-                <exclusion>
-                    <groupId>*</groupId>
-                    <artifactId>*</artifactId>
-                </exclusion>
-            </exclusions>
-        </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
             <artifactId>quarkus-resteasy-jsonb-deployment</artifactId>
diff --git a/integration-tests/kafka-sasl/pom.xml b/integration-tests/kafka-sasl/pom.xml
index 29fa0a7af6af6..6d198595559ce 100644
--- a/integration-tests/kafka-sasl/pom.xml
+++ b/integration-tests/kafka-sasl/pom.xml
@@ -28,10 +28,6 @@
             <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
             <artifactId>quarkus-resteasy</artifactId>
         </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
-            <artifactId>quarkus-resteasy-jackson</artifactId>
-        </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
             <artifactId>quarkus-resteasy-jsonb</artifactId>
@@ -129,19 +125,6 @@
                 </exclusion>
             </exclusions>
         </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
-            <artifactId>quarkus-resteasy-jackson-deployment</artifactId>
-            <version>${project.version}</version>
-            <type>pom</type>
-            <scope>test</scope>
-            <exclusions>
-                <exclusion>
-                    <groupId>*</groupId>
-                    <artifactId>*</artifactId>
-                </exclusion>
-            </exclusions>
-        </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
             <artifactId>quarkus-resteasy-jsonb-deployment</artifactId>
diff --git a/integration-tests/kafka-snappy/pom.xml b/integration-tests/kafka-snappy/pom.xml
index 418cf0a01c994..e0b8d26f3d0d1 100644
--- a/integration-tests/kafka-snappy/pom.xml
+++ b/integration-tests/kafka-snappy/pom.xml
@@ -28,10 +28,6 @@
             <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
             <artifactId>quarkus-resteasy</artifactId>
         </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
-            <artifactId>quarkus-resteasy-jackson</artifactId>
-        </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
             <artifactId>quarkus-resteasy-jsonb</artifactId>
@@ -143,19 +139,6 @@
                 </exclusion>
             </exclusions>
         </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
-            <artifactId>quarkus-resteasy-jackson-deployment</artifactId>
-            <version>${project.version}</version>
-            <type>pom</type>
-            <scope>test</scope>
-            <exclusions>
-                <exclusion>
-                    <groupId>*</groupId>
-                    <artifactId>*</artifactId>
-                </exclusion>
-            </exclusions>
-        </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
             <artifactId>quarkus-resteasy-jsonb-deployment</artifactId>
diff --git a/integration-tests/kafka-ssl/pom.xml b/integration-tests/kafka-ssl/pom.xml
index 31f6125a25330..6889dbbacd19d 100644
--- a/integration-tests/kafka-ssl/pom.xml
+++ b/integration-tests/kafka-ssl/pom.xml
@@ -28,10 +28,6 @@
             <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
             <artifactId>quarkus-resteasy</artifactId>
         </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
-            <artifactId>quarkus-resteasy-jackson</artifactId>
-        </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
             <artifactId>quarkus-resteasy-jsonb</artifactId>
@@ -129,19 +125,6 @@
                 </exclusion>
             </exclusions>
         </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
-            <artifactId>quarkus-resteasy-jackson-deployment</artifactId>
-            <version>${project.version}</version>
-            <type>pom</type>
-            <scope>test</scope>
-            <exclusions>
-                <exclusion>
-                    <groupId>*</groupId>
-                    <artifactId>*</artifactId>
-                </exclusion>
-            </exclusions>
-        </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
             <artifactId>quarkus-resteasy-jsonb-deployment</artifactId>
diff --git a/integration-tests/kafka/pom.xml b/integration-tests/kafka/pom.xml
index e2a92e1e0a2c3..4d1c8c3f2dac2 100644
--- a/integration-tests/kafka/pom.xml
+++ b/integration-tests/kafka/pom.xml
@@ -28,10 +28,6 @@
             <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
             <artifactId>quarkus-resteasy</artifactId>
         </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
-            <artifactId>quarkus-resteasy-jackson</artifactId>
-        </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
             <artifactId>quarkus-resteasy-jsonb</artifactId>
@@ -129,19 +125,6 @@
                 </exclusion>
             </exclusions>
         </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
-            <artifactId>quarkus-resteasy-jackson-deployment</artifactId>
-            <version>${project.version}</version>
-            <type>pom</type>
-            <scope>test</scope>
-            <exclusions>
-                <exclusion>
-                    <groupId>*</groupId>
-                    <artifactId>*</artifactId>
-                </exclusion>
-            </exclusions>
-        </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
             <artifactId>quarkus-resteasy-jsonb-deployment</artifactId>