diff --git a/cache-tree.c b/cache-tree.c
index c6508b64a5c810..78d6ba92853bc6 100644
--- a/cache-tree.c
+++ b/cache-tree.c
@@ -779,7 +779,7 @@ static void prime_cache_tree_rec(struct repository *r,
 			struct cache_tree_sub *sub;
 			struct tree *subtree = lookup_tree(r, &entry.oid);
 
-			if (!subtree->object.parsed && parse_tree(subtree) < 0)
+			if (parse_tree(subtree) < 0)
 				exit(128);
 			sub = cache_tree_sub(it, entry.path);
 			sub->cache_tree = cache_tree();