diff --git a/tests/executors/test_celery_executor.py b/tests/executors/test_celery_executor.py
index 2890544cd4484..58adf96118fdb 100644
--- a/tests/executors/test_celery_executor.py
+++ b/tests/executors/test_celery_executor.py
@@ -75,6 +75,17 @@ def _prepare_app(broker_url=None, execute=None):
     patch_app = mock.patch('airflow.executors.celery_executor.app', test_app)
     patch_execute = mock.patch('airflow.executors.celery_executor.execute_command', test_execute)
 
+    backend = test_app.backend
+
+    if hasattr(backend, 'ResultSession'):
+        # Pre-create the database tables now, otherwise SQLA vis Celery has a
+        # race condition where it one of the subprocesses can die with "Table
+        # already exists" error, because SQLA checks for which tables exist,
+        # then issues a CREATE TABLE, rather than doing CREATE TABLE IF NOT
+        # EXISTS
+        session = backend.ResultSession()
+        session.close()
+
     with patch_app, patch_execute:
         try:
             yield test_app
@@ -165,6 +176,7 @@ def fake_execute_command():
         self.assertEqual(1, len(executor.queued_tasks))
         self.assertEqual(executor.queued_tasks[key], value_tuple)
 
+    @pytest.mark.backend("mysql", "postgres")
     def test_exception_propagation(self):
 
         with _prepare_app(), self.assertLogs(celery_executor.log) as cm: