diff --git a/tests/translator/input/error_default_authorizer_should_be_string_in_api.yaml b/tests/translator/input/error_default_authorizer_should_be_string_in_api.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fca2ebb17c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/translator/input/error_default_authorizer_should_be_string_in_api.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+AWSTemplateFormatVersion: "2010-09-09"
+Transform: "AWS::Serverless-2016-10-31"
+
+Resources:
+  MyApi:
+    Type: "AWS::Serverless::Api"
+    Properties:
+      StageName: Prod
+      Auth:
+        DefaultAuthorizer: !Ref MyCognitoAuth
+        Authorizers:
+          MyCognitoAuth:
+            UserPoolArn: arn:aws:1
+            Identity:
+              Header: MyAuthorizationHeader
+              ValidationExpression: myauthvalidationexpression
+
+  MyFunction:
+    Type: AWS::Serverless::Function
+    Properties:
+      CodeUri: s3://sam-demo-bucket/thumbnails.zip
+      Handler: index.handler
+      Runtime: nodejs8.10
+      Events:
+        Api:
+          Type: Api
+          Properties:
+            RestApiId: !Ref MyApi
+            Path: /
+            Method: get
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/translator/output/error_default_authorizer_should_be_string_in_api.json b/tests/translator/output/error_default_authorizer_should_be_string_in_api.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b3394c79be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/translator/output/error_default_authorizer_should_be_string_in_api.json
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+    "errorMessage": "Invalid Serverless Application Specification document. Number of errors found: 1. Resource with id [MyApi] is invalid. DefaultAuthorizer is not a string."
+}
\ No newline at end of file