diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 727ebd46..fab445b5 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 - [#1315](https://github.com/oauth2-proxy/oauth2-proxy/pull/1315) linkedin: Update provider to v2 (@wuurrd)
 - [#1348](https://github.com/oauth2-proxy/oauth2-proxy/pull/1348) Using the native httputil proxy code for websockets rather than yhat/wsutil to properly handle HTTP-level failures (@thetrime)
 - [#1379](https://github.com/oauth2-proxy/oauth2-proxy/pull/1379) Fix the manual sign in with --htpasswd-user-group switch (@janrotter)
+- [#1375](https://github.com/oauth2-proxy/oauth2-proxy/pull/1375) Added `--force-json-errors` flag (@bancek)
 - [#1337](https://github.com/oauth2-proxy/oauth2-proxy/pull/1337) Changing user field type to text when using htpasswd (@pburgisser)
 - [#1239](https://github.com/oauth2-proxy/oauth2-proxy/pull/1239) Base GitLab provider implementation on OIDCProvider (@NickMeves)
 - [#1276](https://github.com/oauth2-proxy/oauth2-proxy/pull/1276) Update crypto and switched to new github.com/golang-jwt/jwt (@JVecsei)
diff --git a/contrib/oauth2-proxy_autocomplete.sh b/contrib/oauth2-proxy_autocomplete.sh
index d2c71c92..5c11738b 100644
--- a/contrib/oauth2-proxy_autocomplete.sh
+++ b/contrib/oauth2-proxy_autocomplete.sh
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ _oauth2_proxy() {
 			COMPREPLY=( $(compgen -W 'X-Real-IP X-Forwarded-For X-ProxyUser-IP' -- ${cur}) )
 			return 0
 			;;
-		--@(http-address|https-address|redirect-url|upstream|basic-auth-password|skip-auth-regex|flush-interval|extra-jwt-issuers|email-domain|whitelist-domain|trusted-ip|keycloak-group|azure-tenant|bitbucket-team|bitbucket-repository|github-org|github-team|github-repo|github-token|gitlab-group|github-user|google-group|google-admin-email|google-service-account-json|client-id|client_secret|banner|footer|proxy-prefix|ping-path|cookie-name|cookie-secret|cookie-domain|cookie-path|cookie-expire|cookie-refresh|cookie-samesite|redist-sentinel-master-name|redist-sentinel-connection-urls|redist-cluster-connection-urls|logging-max-size|logging-max-age|logging-max-backups|standard-logging-format|request-logging-format|exclude-logging-paths|auth-logging-format|oidc-issuer-url|oidc-jwks-url|login-url|redeem-url|profile-url|resource|validate-url|scope|approval-prompt|signature-key|acr-values|jwt-key|pubjwk-url))
+		--@(http-address|https-address|redirect-url|upstream|basic-auth-password|skip-auth-regex|flush-interval|extra-jwt-issuers|email-domain|whitelist-domain|trusted-ip|keycloak-group|azure-tenant|bitbucket-team|bitbucket-repository|github-org|github-team|github-repo|github-token|gitlab-group|github-user|google-group|google-admin-email|google-service-account-json|client-id|client_secret|banner|footer|proxy-prefix|ping-path|cookie-name|cookie-secret|cookie-domain|cookie-path|cookie-expire|cookie-refresh|cookie-samesite|redist-sentinel-master-name|redist-sentinel-connection-urls|redist-cluster-connection-urls|logging-max-size|logging-max-age|logging-max-backups|standard-logging-format|request-logging-format|exclude-logging-paths|auth-logging-format|oidc-issuer-url|oidc-jwks-url|login-url|redeem-url|profile-url|resource|validate-url|scope|approval-prompt|signature-key|acr-values|jwt-key|pubjwk-url|force-json-errors))
 			return 0
 			;;
 	esac
diff --git a/docs/docs/configuration/overview.md b/docs/docs/configuration/overview.md
index 7f1bb606..4fcc4f11 100644
--- a/docs/docs/configuration/overview.md
+++ b/docs/docs/configuration/overview.md
@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@ An example [oauth2-proxy.cfg](https://github.com/oauth2-proxy/oauth2-proxy/blob/
 | `--exclude-logging-paths` | string | comma separated list of paths to exclude from logging, e.g. `"/ping,/path2"` |`""` (no paths excluded) |
 | `--flush-interval` | duration | period between flushing response buffers when streaming responses | `"1s"` |
 | `--force-https` | bool | enforce https redirect | `false` |
+| `--force-json-errors` | force JSON errors instead of HTTP error pages or redirects | `false` |
 | `--banner` | string | custom (html) banner string. Use `"-"` to disable default banner. | |
 | `--footer` | string | custom (html) footer string. Use `"-"` to disable default footer. | |
 | `--github-org` | string | restrict logins to members of this organisation | |
diff --git a/oauthproxy.go b/oauthproxy.go
index d45bc692..08e6246a 100644
--- a/oauthproxy.go
+++ b/oauthproxy.go
@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@ type OAuthProxy struct {
 	SkipProviderButton  bool
 	skipAuthPreflight   bool
 	skipJwtBearerTokens bool
+	forceJSONErrors     bool
 	realClientIPParser  ipapi.RealClientIPParser
 	trustedIPs          *ip.NetSet
 
@@ -198,6 +199,7 @@ func NewOAuthProxy(opts *options.Options, validator func(string) bool) (*OAuthPr
 		skipJwtBearerTokens: opts.SkipJwtBearerTokens,
 		realClientIPParser:  opts.GetRealClientIPParser(),
 		SkipProviderButton:  opts.SkipProviderButton,
+		forceJSONErrors:     opts.ForceJSONErrors,
 		trustedIPs:          trustedIPs,
 
 		basicAuthValidator: basicAuthValidator,
@@ -850,7 +852,7 @@ func (p *OAuthProxy) Proxy(rw http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
 		p.headersChain.Then(p.upstreamProxy).ServeHTTP(rw, req)
 	case ErrNeedsLogin:
 		// we need to send the user to a login screen
-		if isAjax(req) {
+		if p.forceJSONErrors || isAjax(req) {
 			// no point redirecting an AJAX request
 			p.errorJSON(rw, http.StatusUnauthorized)
 			return
@@ -863,7 +865,11 @@ func (p *OAuthProxy) Proxy(rw http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
 		}
 
 	case ErrAccessDenied:
-		p.ErrorPage(rw, req, http.StatusForbidden, "The session failed authorization checks")
+		if p.forceJSONErrors {
+			p.errorJSON(rw, http.StatusForbidden)
+		} else {
+			p.ErrorPage(rw, req, http.StatusForbidden, "The session failed authorization checks")
+		}
 
 	default:
 		// unknown error
@@ -1056,4 +1062,7 @@ func isAjax(req *http.Request) bool {
 func (p *OAuthProxy) errorJSON(rw http.ResponseWriter, code int) {
 	rw.Header().Set("Content-Type", applicationJSON)
 	rw.WriteHeader(code)
+	// we need to send some JSON response because we set the Content-Type to
+	// application/json
+	rw.Write([]byte("{}"))
 }
diff --git a/oauthproxy_test.go b/oauthproxy_test.go
index 001d7347..12023f92 100644
--- a/oauthproxy_test.go
+++ b/oauthproxy_test.go
@@ -1535,9 +1535,10 @@ type ajaxRequestTest struct {
 	proxy *OAuthProxy
 }
 
-func newAjaxRequestTest() (*ajaxRequestTest, error) {
+func newAjaxRequestTest(forceJSONErrors bool) (*ajaxRequestTest, error) {
 	test := &ajaxRequestTest{}
 	test.opts = baseTestOptions()
+	test.opts.ForceJSONErrors = forceJSONErrors
 	err := validation.Validate(test.opts)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -1552,59 +1553,64 @@ func newAjaxRequestTest() (*ajaxRequestTest, error) {
 	return test, nil
 }
 
-func (test *ajaxRequestTest) getEndpoint(endpoint string, header http.Header) (int, http.Header, error) {
+func (test *ajaxRequestTest) getEndpoint(endpoint string, header http.Header) (int, http.Header, []byte, error) {
 	rw := httptest.NewRecorder()
 	req, err := http.NewRequest(http.MethodGet, endpoint, strings.NewReader(""))
 	if err != nil {
-		return 0, nil, err
+		return 0, nil, nil, err
 	}
 	req.Header = header
 	test.proxy.ServeHTTP(rw, req)
-	return rw.Code, rw.Header(), nil
+	return rw.Code, rw.Header(), rw.Body.Bytes(), nil
 }
 
-func testAjaxUnauthorizedRequest(t *testing.T, header http.Header) {
-	test, err := newAjaxRequestTest()
+func testAjaxUnauthorizedRequest(t *testing.T, header http.Header, forceJSONErrors bool) {
+	test, err := newAjaxRequestTest(forceJSONErrors)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
 	endpoint := "/test"
 
-	code, rh, err := test.getEndpoint(endpoint, header)
+	code, rh, body, err := test.getEndpoint(endpoint, header)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 	assert.Equal(t, http.StatusUnauthorized, code)
 	mime := rh.Get("Content-Type")
 	assert.Equal(t, applicationJSON, mime)
+	assert.Equal(t, []byte("{}"), body)
 }
 func TestAjaxUnauthorizedRequest1(t *testing.T) {
 	header := make(http.Header)
 	header.Add("accept", applicationJSON)
 
-	testAjaxUnauthorizedRequest(t, header)
+	testAjaxUnauthorizedRequest(t, header, false)
 }
 
 func TestAjaxUnauthorizedRequest2(t *testing.T) {
 	header := make(http.Header)
 	header.Add("Accept", applicationJSON)
 
-	testAjaxUnauthorizedRequest(t, header)
+	testAjaxUnauthorizedRequest(t, header, false)
 }
 
 func TestAjaxUnauthorizedRequestAccept1(t *testing.T) {
 	header := make(http.Header)
 	header.Add("Accept", "application/json, text/plain, */*")
 
-	testAjaxUnauthorizedRequest(t, header)
+	testAjaxUnauthorizedRequest(t, header, false)
+}
+
+func TestForceJSONErrorsUnauthorizedRequest(t *testing.T) {
+	testAjaxUnauthorizedRequest(t, nil, true)
 }
 
 func TestAjaxForbiddendRequest(t *testing.T) {
-	test, err := newAjaxRequestTest()
+	test, err := newAjaxRequestTest(false)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
 	endpoint := "/test"
 	header := make(http.Header)
-	code, rh, err := test.getEndpoint(endpoint, header)
+	code, rh, _, err := test.getEndpoint(endpoint, header)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 	assert.Equal(t, http.StatusForbidden, code)
 	mime := rh.Get("Content-Type")
diff --git a/pkg/apis/options/options.go b/pkg/apis/options/options.go
index d4bb4312..26f2fb7b 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/options/options.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/options/options.go
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ type Options struct {
 	SkipProviderButton    bool     `flag:"skip-provider-button" cfg:"skip_provider_button"`
 	SSLInsecureSkipVerify bool     `flag:"ssl-insecure-skip-verify" cfg:"ssl_insecure_skip_verify"`
 	SkipAuthPreflight     bool     `flag:"skip-auth-preflight" cfg:"skip_auth_preflight"`
+	ForceJSONErrors       bool     `flag:"force-json-errors" cfg:"force_json_errors"`
 
 	SignatureKey    string `flag:"signature-key" cfg:"signature_key"`
 	GCPHealthChecks bool   `flag:"gcp-healthchecks" cfg:"gcp_healthchecks"`
@@ -121,6 +122,7 @@ func NewFlagSet() *pflag.FlagSet {
 	flagSet.Bool("skip-auth-preflight", false, "will skip authentication for OPTIONS requests")
 	flagSet.Bool("ssl-insecure-skip-verify", false, "skip validation of certificates presented when using HTTPS providers")
 	flagSet.Bool("skip-jwt-bearer-tokens", false, "will skip requests that have verified JWT bearer tokens (default false)")
+	flagSet.Bool("force-json-errors", false, "will force JSON errors instead of HTTP error pages or redirects")
 	flagSet.StringSlice("extra-jwt-issuers", []string{}, "if skip-jwt-bearer-tokens is set, a list of extra JWT issuer=audience pairs (where the issuer URL has a .well-known/openid-configuration or a .well-known/jwks.json)")
 
 	flagSet.StringSlice("email-domain", []string{}, "authenticate emails with the specified domain (may be given multiple times). Use * to authenticate any email")