diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/cloudwatch/__mocks__/CloudWatchDataSource.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/cloudwatch/__mocks__/CloudWatchDataSource.ts
index 72221bc968a..f58543dbdce 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/cloudwatch/__mocks__/CloudWatchDataSource.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/cloudwatch/__mocks__/CloudWatchDataSource.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { of } from 'rxjs';
 
 import {
+  CustomVariableModel,
   DataSourceInstanceSettings,
   DataSourcePluginMeta,
   PluginMetaInfo,
@@ -11,7 +12,6 @@ import { getBackendSrv, setBackendSrv } from '@grafana/runtime';
 import { getTimeSrv } from 'app/features/dashboard/services/TimeSrv';
 import { TemplateSrv } from 'app/features/templating/template_srv';
 import { initialCustomVariableModelState } from 'app/features/variables/custom/reducer';
-import { CustomVariableModel } from 'app/features/variables/types';
 
 import { CloudWatchDatasource } from '../datasource';
 import { CloudWatchJsonData } from '../types';
@@ -256,3 +256,11 @@ export const accountIdVariable: CustomVariableModel = {
   options: [{ value: 'templatedRegion', text: 'templatedRegion', selected: true }],
   multi: false,
 };
+
+export const statisticVariable: CustomVariableModel = {
+  ...initialCustomVariableModelState,
+  id: 'statistic',
+  name: 'statistic',
+  current: { value: 'some stat', text: 'some stat', selected: true },
+  multi: false,
+};
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/cloudwatch/components/MetricStatEditor/MetricStatEditor.test.tsx b/public/app/plugins/datasource/cloudwatch/components/MetricStatEditor/MetricStatEditor.test.tsx
index 9393625583b..bc1126972f3 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/cloudwatch/components/MetricStatEditor/MetricStatEditor.test.tsx
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/cloudwatch/components/MetricStatEditor/MetricStatEditor.test.tsx
@@ -6,13 +6,13 @@ import selectEvent from 'react-select-event';
 import { config } from '@grafana/runtime';
 
 import { MetricStatEditor } from '..';
-import { setupMockedDataSource } from '../../__mocks__/CloudWatchDataSource';
+import { setupMockedDataSource, statisticVariable } from '../../__mocks__/CloudWatchDataSource';
 import { validMetricSearchBuilderQuery } from '../../__mocks__/queries';
 import { MetricStat } from '../../types';
 
 const originalFeatureToggleValue = config.featureToggles.cloudWatchCrossAccountQuerying;
 const ds = setupMockedDataSource({
-  variables: [],
+  variables: [statisticVariable],
 });
 
 ds.datasource.resources.getNamespaces = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue([]);
@@ -40,9 +40,8 @@ describe('MetricStatEditor', () => {
     config.featureToggles.cloudWatchCrossAccountQuerying = originalFeatureToggleValue;
   });
   describe('statistics field', () => {
-    test.each([['Average', 'p23.23', 'p34', '$statistic']])('should accept valid values', async (statistic) => {
+    test.each(['Average', 'p23.23', 'p34', '$statistic'])('should accept valid values', async (statistic) => {
       const onChange = jest.fn();
-      props.datasource.getVariables = jest.fn().mockReturnValue(['$statistic']);
 
       render(<MetricStatEditor {...props} onChange={onChange} />);
 
@@ -54,7 +53,7 @@ describe('MetricStatEditor', () => {
       expect(onChange).toHaveBeenCalledWith({ ...props.metricStat, statistic });
     });
 
-    test.each([['CustomStat', 'p23,23', '$statistic']])('should not accept invalid values', async (statistic) => {
+    test.each(['CustomStat', 'p23,23', '$someUnknownValue'])('should not accept invalid values', async (statistic) => {
       const onChange = jest.fn();
 
       render(<MetricStatEditor {...props} onChange={onChange} />);
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/cloudwatch/components/MetricStatEditor/MetricStatEditor.tsx b/public/app/plugins/datasource/cloudwatch/components/MetricStatEditor/MetricStatEditor.tsx
index 6604fa3a1b0..abfe5b6f40c 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/cloudwatch/components/MetricStatEditor/MetricStatEditor.tsx
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/cloudwatch/components/MetricStatEditor/MetricStatEditor.tsx
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ export function MetricStatEditor({
                   !statistic ||
                   (!standardStatistics.includes(statistic) &&
                     !/^p\d{2}(?:\.\d{1,2})?$/.test(statistic) &&
-                    !statistic.startsWith('$'))
+                    !datasource.templateSrv.containsTemplate(statistic))
                 ) {
                   return;
                 }