diff --git a/extensions/kubernetes/vanilla/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kubernetes/deployment/KubernetesDeployer.java b/extensions/kubernetes/vanilla/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kubernetes/deployment/KubernetesDeployer.java
index 00515e0b5373c..59f0bc43ac169 100644
--- a/extensions/kubernetes/vanilla/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kubernetes/deployment/KubernetesDeployer.java
+++ b/extensions/kubernetes/vanilla/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kubernetes/deployment/KubernetesDeployer.java
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 
 package io.quarkus.kubernetes.deployment;
 
+import static io.quarkus.kubernetes.deployment.Constants.KNATIVE;
 import static io.quarkus.kubernetes.deployment.Constants.KUBERNETES;
 import static io.quarkus.kubernetes.deployment.Constants.MINIKUBE;
 import static io.quarkus.kubernetes.deployment.Constants.OPENSHIFT;
@@ -174,7 +175,11 @@ private DeploymentResultBuildItem deploy(DeploymentTargetEntry deploymentTarget,
         try (FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream(manifest)) {
             KubernetesList list = Serialization.unmarshalAsList(fis);
             distinct(list.getItems()).forEach(i -> {
-                client.resource(i).inNamespace(namespace).deletingExisting().createOrReplace();
+                if (KNATIVE.equals(deploymentTarget.getName().toLowerCase())) {
+                    client.resource(i).inNamespace(namespace).deletingExisting().createOrReplace();
+                } else {
+                    client.resource(i).inNamespace(namespace).createOrReplace();
+                }
                 log.info("Applied: " + i.getKind() + " " + i.getMetadata().getName() + ".");
             });