diff --git a/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/app_generator.rb b/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/app_generator.rb
index d0e957037a6566e8ab6457cf69edfd5b02a41364..0c2d333b3f0e2fbbd321b03371787f37f3d4104e 100644
--- a/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/app_generator.rb
+++ b/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/app_generator.rb
@@ -259,6 +259,12 @@ def create_vendor_files
         build(:vendor) unless options[:api]
       end
 
+      def delete_app_assets_if_api_option
+        if options[:api]
+          remove_dir 'app/assets'
+        end
+      end
+
       def delete_js_folder_skipping_javascript
         if options[:skip_javascript]
           remove_dir 'app/assets/javascripts'
diff --git a/railties/test/generators/api_app_generator_test.rb b/railties/test/generators/api_app_generator_test.rb
index 3c0c8054a451fd970cfc34ee02ccfa5eb1ce5558..1f4d2c41b0a444287d118d5d6dc757035713f86f 100644
--- a/railties/test/generators/api_app_generator_test.rb
+++ b/railties/test/generators/api_app_generator_test.rb
@@ -74,7 +74,8 @@ def default_files
   end
 
   def skipped_files
-    %w(config/initializers/assets.rb
+    %w(app/assets
+       config/initializers/assets.rb
        config/initializers/cookies_serializer.rb
        config/initializers/session_store.rb
        vendor/assets