diff --git a/guardrails/utils/parsing_utils.py b/guardrails/utils/parsing_utils.py
index 11163549e..ada4bd17b 100644
--- a/guardrails/utils/parsing_utils.py
+++ b/guardrails/utils/parsing_utils.py
@@ -75,6 +75,15 @@ def get_code_block(
 def extract_json_from_ouput(
     output: str,
 ) -> Tuple[Optional[Union[Dict, List]], Optional[Exception]]:
+    # try to load the whole output as json first
+    # there can be corner cases with code blocks
+    # and json/codeblocks inside json
+    try:
+        output_as_dict = json.loads(output, strict=False)
+        return output_as_dict, None
+    except json.decoder.JSONDecodeError:
+        pass
+
     # Find and extract json from code blocks
     extracted_code_block = output
     has_json_block, json_start, json_end = has_code_block(output, "json")
diff --git a/tests/unit_tests/utils/test_json_utils.py b/tests/unit_tests/utils/test_json_utils.py
index b34e13efb..331077928 100644
--- a/tests/unit_tests/utils/test_json_utils.py
+++ b/tests/unit_tests/utils/test_json_utils.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import pytest
-
+import json
 from guardrails.utils.parsing_utils import extract_json_from_ouput
 
 
@@ -75,6 +75,8 @@
 
 not_even_json = "This isn't even json..."
 
+codeblock_inside_json = json.dumps({"data": 'hello ```json\n{"foo":"<...>"}\n```'})
+
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
     "llm_ouput,expected_output,expected_error",
@@ -84,6 +86,11 @@
         (no_code_block, {"a": 1}, None),
         (text_with_no_code_block, {"a": 1, "b": {"c": [{"d": 2}, {"e": 3}]}}, None),
         (text_with_json_code_block, {"a": 1}, None),
+        (
+            codeblock_inside_json,
+            {"data": 'hello ```json\n{"foo":"<...>"}\n```'},
+            None,
+        ),
         (js_code_block, None, "Expecting value: line 1 column 1 (char 0)"),
         (
             invalid_json_code_block__quotes,