diff --git a/lib/_http_client.js b/lib/_http_client.js
index 6837c94df98eea..85e865f565a039 100644
--- a/lib/_http_client.js
+++ b/lib/_http_client.js
@@ -68,7 +68,11 @@ function ClientRequest(options, cb) {
   self.socketPath = options.socketPath;
   self.timeout = options.timeout;
 
-  var method = self.method = (options.method || 'GET').toUpperCase();
+  var method = options.method;
+  if (method != null && typeof method !== 'string') {
+    throw new TypeError('Method must be a string');
+  }
+  method = self.method = (method || 'GET').toUpperCase();
   if (!common._checkIsHttpToken(method)) {
     throw new TypeError('Method must be a valid HTTP token');
   }
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-http-client-check-http-token.js b/test/parallel/test-http-client-check-http-token.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..5a2b84a973262c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-http-client-check-http-token.js
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+'use strict';
+const common = require('../common');
+const assert = require('assert');
+const http = require('http');
+
+const expectedSuccesses = [undefined, null, 'GET', 'post'];
+let requestCount = 0;
+
+const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
+  requestCount++;
+  res.end();
+
+  if (expectedSuccesses.length === requestCount) {
+    server.close();
+  }
+}).listen(0, test);
+
+function test() {
+  function fail(input) {
+    assert.throws(() => {
+      http.request({ method: input, path: '/' }, common.fail);
+    }, /^TypeError: Method must be a string$/);
+  }
+
+  fail(-1);
+  fail(1);
+  fail(0);
+  fail({});
+  fail(true);
+  fail(false);
+  fail([]);
+
+  function ok(method) {
+    http.request({ method: method, port: server.address().port }).end();
+  }
+
+  expectedSuccesses.forEach((method) => {
+    ok(method);
+  });
+}