diff --git a/lib/zip.js b/lib/zip.js
index a1f11414..3e942a33 100644
--- a/lib/zip.js
+++ b/lib/zip.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 const fse = require('fs-extra');
 const path = require('path');
+const _ = require('lodash');
 const {zipDirectory} = require('./zipService');
 const BbPromise = require('bluebird');
 
@@ -13,6 +14,9 @@ function addVendorHelper() {
   if (this.options.zip) {
     this.serverless.cli.log('Adding Python requirements helper...');
 
+    if (!_.get(this.serverless.service, 'package.include'))
+      _.set(this.serverless.service, ['package', 'include'], []);
+
     this.serverless.service.package.include.push('unzip_requirements.py');
 
     return fse.copyAsync(
diff --git a/test.bats b/test.bats
index e1b6edb1..e0593a6e 100755
--- a/test.bats
+++ b/test.bats
@@ -141,3 +141,10 @@ teardown() {
     unzip .serverless/sls-py-req-test.zip -d puck
     ! ls puck/hug
 }
+
+@test "py3.6 can package flask with zip option and no explicit include" {
+    sed -i'.bak' -e 's/zip: *false/zip: true/' -e 's/include://' -e 's/^.*handler.py//' serverless.yml
+    sls package
+    unzip .serverless/sls-py-req-test.zip -d puck
+    ls puck/.requirements.zip puck/unzip_requirements.py
+}