diff --git a/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/app_generator.rb b/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/app_generator.rb
index 0c2d333b3f..f6ac0107e1 100644
--- a/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/app_generator.rb
+++ b/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/app_generator.rb
@@ -265,6 +265,12 @@ module Rails
         end
       end
 
+      def delete_app_helpers_if_api_option
+        if options[:api]
+          remove_dir 'app/helpers'
+        end
+      end
+
       def delete_js_folder_skipping_javascript
         if options[:skip_javascript]
           remove_dir 'app/assets/javascripts'
diff --git a/railties/test/generators/api_app_generator_test.rb b/railties/test/generators/api_app_generator_test.rb
index 1f4d2c41b0..70b8bde3d5 100644
--- a/railties/test/generators/api_app_generator_test.rb
+++ b/railties/test/generators/api_app_generator_test.rb
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@ class ApiAppGeneratorTest < Rails::Generators::TestCase
 
   def skipped_files
     %w(app/assets
+       app/helpers
        config/initializers/assets.rb
        config/initializers/cookies_serializer.rb
        config/initializers/session_store.rb