diff --git a/packages/babel-preset-env/src/targets-parser.js b/packages/babel-preset-env/src/targets-parser.js
index c2a446d7ea84..ad165a6d1a65 100644
--- a/packages/babel-preset-env/src/targets-parser.js
+++ b/packages/babel-preset-env/src/targets-parser.js
@@ -50,6 +50,13 @@ const validateBrowsers = browsers => {
     typeof browsers === "undefined" || isBrowsersQueryValid(browsers),
     `Invalid Option: '${browsers}' is not a valid browserslist query`,
   );
+
+  // Since we overwrite browserslist.defaults, let's special case
+  // when a user actually wants `defaults`.
+  if (browsers === "defaults") {
+    return browserslistDefaults;
+  }
+
   return browsers;
 };
 
@@ -176,6 +183,7 @@ const getTargets = (targets: Object = {}, options: Object = {}): Targets => {
 
   // Parse browsers target via browserslist
   const browsersquery = validateBrowsers(targets.browsers);
+
   const shouldParseBrowsers = !!targets.browsers;
   const shouldSearchForConfig =
     !options.ignoreBrowserslistConfig && !Object.keys(targets).length;
diff --git a/packages/babel-preset-env/test/fixtures/preset-options/browserslist-defaults/input.mjs b/packages/babel-preset-env/test/fixtures/preset-options/browserslist-defaults/input.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..bf68e2dbd8c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/babel-preset-env/test/fixtures/preset-options/browserslist-defaults/input.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+const test = () => "";
diff --git a/packages/babel-preset-env/test/fixtures/preset-options/browserslist-defaults/options.json b/packages/babel-preset-env/test/fixtures/preset-options/browserslist-defaults/options.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..fb7e8d2043b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/babel-preset-env/test/fixtures/preset-options/browserslist-defaults/options.json
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+{
+  "presets": [
+    [
+      "../../../../lib",
+      {
+        "targets": {
+          "browsers": "defaults"
+        }
+      }
+    ]
+  ]
+}
diff --git a/packages/babel-preset-env/test/fixtures/preset-options/browserslist-defaults/output.js b/packages/babel-preset-env/test/fixtures/preset-options/browserslist-defaults/output.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..a5703ba6f53d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/babel-preset-env/test/fixtures/preset-options/browserslist-defaults/output.js
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+"use strict";
+
+var test = function test() {
+  return "";
+};
diff --git a/packages/babel-preset-env/test/targets-parser.spec.js b/packages/babel-preset-env/test/targets-parser.spec.js
index fe6e2fac314a..f87cc5cfd42f 100644
--- a/packages/babel-preset-env/test/targets-parser.spec.js
+++ b/packages/babel-preset-env/test/targets-parser.spec.js
@@ -20,6 +20,15 @@ describe("getTargets", () => {
     });
   });
 
+  it("allows 'defaults' query", () => {
+    const browserslistDefaults = browserslist.defaults;
+
+    const expected = getTargets({ browsers: browserslistDefaults });
+    const actual = getTargets({ browsers: "defaults" });
+
+    expect(actual).toEqual(expected);
+  });
+
   it("does not clobber browserslists defaults", () => {
     const browserslistDefaults = browserslist.defaults;