diff --git a/pandas/core/nanops.py b/pandas/core/nanops.py
index 584972f2b2dd5..6b03e76a1d691 100644
--- a/pandas/core/nanops.py
+++ b/pandas/core/nanops.py
@@ -1243,8 +1243,14 @@ def nancorr(a, b, method="pearson", min_periods=None):
 def get_corr_func(method):
     if method in ["kendall", "spearman"]:
         from scipy.stats import kendalltau, spearmanr
+    elif method in ["pearson"]:
+        pass
     elif callable(method):
         return method
+    else:
+        raise ValueError(
+            f"Unkown method '{method}', expected one of 'kendall', 'spearman'"
+        )
 
     def _pearson(a, b):
         return np.corrcoef(a, b)[0, 1]
diff --git a/pandas/tests/test_nanops.py b/pandas/tests/test_nanops.py
index b2bccbeb82c27..2c5d028ebe42e 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/test_nanops.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/test_nanops.py
@@ -598,6 +598,14 @@ def test_nancorr_spearman(self):
         targ1 = spearmanr(self.arr_float_1d.flat, self.arr_float1_1d.flat)[0]
         self.check_nancorr_nancov_1d(nanops.nancorr, targ0, targ1, method="spearman")
 
+    @td.skip_if_no_scipy
+    def test_invalid_method(self):
+        targ0 = np.corrcoef(self.arr_float_2d, self.arr_float1_2d)[0, 1]
+        targ1 = np.corrcoef(self.arr_float_2d.flat, self.arr_float1_2d.flat)[0, 1]
+        msg = "Unkown method 'foo', expected one of 'kendall', 'spearman'"
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError, match=msg):
+            self.check_nancorr_nancov_1d(nanops.nancorr, targ0, targ1, method="foo")
+
     def test_nancov(self):
         targ0 = np.cov(self.arr_float_2d, self.arr_float1_2d)[0, 1]
         targ1 = np.cov(self.arr_float_2d.flat, self.arr_float1_2d.flat)[0, 1]