diff --git a/railties/CHANGELOG.md b/railties/CHANGELOG.md
index 487f02d23f..6cb88ca01d 100644
--- a/railties/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/railties/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+*   Don't generate HTML/ERB templates for scaffold controller with `--api` flag.
+
+    Fixes #27591.
+
+    *Prathamesh Sonpatki*
+
 *   Make `Rails.env` fall back to `development` when `RAILS_ENV` and `RACK_ENV` is an empty string.
 
     *Daniel Deng*
diff --git a/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/scaffold_controller/scaffold_controller_generator.rb b/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/scaffold_controller/scaffold_controller_generator.rb
index e4f3161ffd..4cc1e2d0fd 100644
--- a/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/scaffold_controller/scaffold_controller_generator.rb
+++ b/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/scaffold_controller/scaffold_controller_generator.rb
@@ -20,7 +20,12 @@ module Rails
         template template_file, File.join("app/controllers", controller_class_path, "#{controller_file_name}_controller.rb")
       end
 
-      hook_for :template_engine, :test_framework, as: :scaffold
+
+      hook_for :template_engine, as: :scaffold do |template_engine|
+        invoke template_engine unless options.api?
+      end
+
+      hook_for :test_framework, as: :scaffold
 
       # Invoke the helper using the controller name (pluralized)
       hook_for :helper, as: :scaffold do |invoked|
diff --git a/railties/test/generators/scaffold_controller_generator_test.rb b/railties/test/generators/scaffold_controller_generator_test.rb
index bd23faf268..9971626f9f 100644
--- a/railties/test/generators/scaffold_controller_generator_test.rb
+++ b/railties/test/generators/scaffold_controller_generator_test.rb
@@ -230,6 +230,12 @@ class ScaffoldControllerGeneratorTest < Rails::Generators::TestCase
         assert_match(/@user\.destroy/, m)
       end
     end
+
+    assert_no_file "app/views/users/index.html.erb"
+    assert_no_file "app/views/users/edit.html.erb"
+    assert_no_file "app/views/users/show.html.erb"
+    assert_no_file "app/views/users/new.html.erb"
+    assert_no_file "app/views/users/_form.html.erb"
   end
 
   def test_api_controller_tests