diff --git a/libs/langchain/langchain/vectorstores/elasticsearch.py b/libs/langchain/langchain/vectorstores/elasticsearch.py
index 4af8395de80..457d3f48d88 100644
--- a/libs/langchain/langchain/vectorstores/elasticsearch.py
+++ b/libs/langchain/langchain/vectorstores/elasticsearch.py
@@ -798,6 +798,8 @@ class ElasticsearchStore(VectorStore):
                     "metadata",
                     self.query_field,
                 ]:
+                    if "metadata" not in hit["_source"]:
+                        hit["_source"]["metadata"] = {}
                     hit["_source"]["metadata"][field] = hit["_source"][field]
 
             docs_and_scores.append(