diff --git a/pkg/apis/crds/karpenter.sh_nodeclaims.yaml b/pkg/apis/crds/karpenter.sh_nodeclaims.yaml
index 79286797f7..0049ef5a1b 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/crds/karpenter.sh_nodeclaims.yaml
+++ b/pkg/apis/crds/karpenter.sh_nodeclaims.yaml
@@ -430,6 +430,8 @@ spec:
                   description: ProviderID of the corresponding node object
                   type: string
               type: object
+          required:
+            - spec
           type: object
       served: true
       storage: true
diff --git a/pkg/apis/crds/karpenter.sh_nodepools.yaml b/pkg/apis/crds/karpenter.sh_nodepools.yaml
index 2f76623988..b1abb94bc7 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/crds/karpenter.sh_nodepools.yaml
+++ b/pkg/apis/crds/karpenter.sh_nodepools.yaml
@@ -520,6 +520,8 @@ spec:
                   description: Resources is the list of resources that have been provisioned.
                   type: object
               type: object
+          required:
+            - spec
           type: object
       served: true
       storage: true
diff --git a/pkg/apis/v1beta1/nodeclaim.go b/pkg/apis/v1beta1/nodeclaim.go
index 7eb888bc65..23d9477859 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/v1beta1/nodeclaim.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/v1beta1/nodeclaim.go
@@ -176,7 +176,8 @@ type NodeClaim struct {
 	metav1.TypeMeta   `json:",inline"`
 	metav1.ObjectMeta `json:"metadata,omitempty"`
 
-	Spec   NodeClaimSpec   `json:"spec,omitempty"`
+	// +required
+	Spec   NodeClaimSpec   `json:"spec"`
 	Status NodeClaimStatus `json:"status,omitempty"`
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/apis/v1beta1/nodepool.go b/pkg/apis/v1beta1/nodepool.go
index 966bfe70b3..8d001e3340 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/v1beta1/nodepool.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/v1beta1/nodepool.go
@@ -185,7 +185,8 @@ type NodePool struct {
 	metav1.TypeMeta   `json:",inline"`
 	metav1.ObjectMeta `json:"metadata,omitempty"`
 
-	Spec   NodePoolSpec   `json:"spec,omitempty"`
+	// +required
+	Spec   NodePoolSpec   `json:"spec"`
 	Status NodePoolStatus `json:"status,omitempty"`
 }