diff --git a/operator/src/main/java/org/keycloak/operator/Constants.java b/operator/src/main/java/org/keycloak/operator/Constants.java
index 3c89114fa9..a9b2f33d4b 100644
--- a/operator/src/main/java/org/keycloak/operator/Constants.java
+++ b/operator/src/main/java/org/keycloak/operator/Constants.java
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ public final class Constants {
     public static final String KEYCLOAK_COMPONENT_LABEL = "operator.keycloak.org/component";
     public static final String KEYCLOAK_WATCHED_SECRET_HASH_ANNOTATION = "operator.keycloak.org/watched-secret-hash";
     public static final String KEYCLOAK_WATCHING_ANNOTATION = "operator.keycloak.org/watching-secrets";
+    public static final String KEYCLOAK_MISSING_SECRETS_ANNOTATION = "operator.keycloak.org/missing-secrets";
 
     public static final String DEFAULT_LABELS_AS_STRING = "app=keycloak,app.kubernetes.io/managed-by=keycloak-operator";
 
diff --git a/operator/src/main/java/org/keycloak/operator/controllers/KeycloakController.java b/operator/src/main/java/org/keycloak/operator/controllers/KeycloakController.java
index 536be4d905..0eb8f83f09 100644
--- a/operator/src/main/java/org/keycloak/operator/controllers/KeycloakController.java
+++ b/operator/src/main/java/org/keycloak/operator/controllers/KeycloakController.java
@@ -130,7 +130,9 @@ public class KeycloakController implements Reconciler<Keycloak>, EventSourceInit
             updateControl = UpdateControl.updateStatus(kc);
         }
 
-        if (!status.isReady()) {
+        if (!status.isReady() || context.getSecondaryResource(StatefulSet.class)
+                .map(s -> s.getMetadata().getAnnotations().get(Constants.KEYCLOAK_MISSING_SECRETS_ANNOTATION))
+                .filter(Boolean::valueOf).isPresent()) {
             updateControl.rescheduleAfter(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
         }
 
diff --git a/operator/src/main/java/org/keycloak/operator/controllers/WatchedSecretsController.java b/operator/src/main/java/org/keycloak/operator/controllers/WatchedSecretsController.java
index 460d0f3012..4d1b92813d 100644
--- a/operator/src/main/java/org/keycloak/operator/controllers/WatchedSecretsController.java
+++ b/operator/src/main/java/org/keycloak/operator/controllers/WatchedSecretsController.java
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ import java.security.NoSuchAlgorithmException;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Objects;
 import java.util.Optional;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
@@ -103,6 +104,8 @@ public class WatchedSecretsController implements Reconciler<Secret>, EventSource
     @Override
     public void annotateDeployment(List<String> desiredWatchedSecretsNames, Keycloak keycloakCR, StatefulSet deployment) {
         List<Secret> currentSecrets = fetchSecrets(desiredWatchedSecretsNames, keycloakCR.getMetadata().getNamespace());
+        deployment.getMetadata().getAnnotations().put(Constants.KEYCLOAK_MISSING_SECRETS_ANNOTATION,
+                Boolean.valueOf(currentSecrets.size() < desiredWatchedSecretsNames.size()).toString());
         deployment.getMetadata().getAnnotations().put(Constants.KEYCLOAK_WATCHING_ANNOTATION, desiredWatchedSecretsNames.stream().collect(Collectors.joining(";")));
         deployment.getSpec().getTemplate().getMetadata().getAnnotations().put(Constants.KEYCLOAK_WATCHED_SECRET_HASH_ANNOTATION, getSecretHash(currentSecrets));
     }
@@ -110,7 +113,8 @@ public class WatchedSecretsController implements Reconciler<Secret>, EventSource
     private List<Secret> fetchSecrets(List<String> secretsNames, String namespace) {
         return secretsNames.stream()
                 .map(n -> Optional.ofNullable(secrets).flatMap(cache -> cache.get(new ResourceID(n, namespace)))
-                        .orElseGet(() -> client.secrets().inNamespace(namespace).withName(n).require()))
+                        .orElseGet(() -> client.secrets().inNamespace(namespace).withName(n).get()))
+                .filter(Objects::nonNull)
                 .collect(Collectors.toList());
     }
 
diff --git a/operator/src/test/java/org/keycloak/operator/testsuite/integration/KeycloakDeploymentTest.java b/operator/src/test/java/org/keycloak/operator/testsuite/integration/KeycloakDeploymentTest.java
index 0a3cdb960c..03855bc460 100644
--- a/operator/src/test/java/org/keycloak/operator/testsuite/integration/KeycloakDeploymentTest.java
+++ b/operator/src/test/java/org/keycloak/operator/testsuite/integration/KeycloakDeploymentTest.java
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.ServicePort;
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.apps.StatefulSet;
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.apps.StatefulSetBuilder;
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.apps.StatefulSetSpecBuilder;
+import io.fabric8.kubernetes.client.dsl.Resource;
 import io.quarkus.logging.Log;
 import io.quarkus.test.junit.QuarkusTest;
 
@@ -94,6 +95,26 @@ public class KeycloakDeploymentTest extends BaseOperatorTest {
                 .untilAsserted(() -> assertThat(k8sclient.apps().statefulSets().inNamespace(namespace).withName(deploymentName).get()).isNull());
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testKeycloakDeploymentBeforeSecret() {
+        // CR
+        var kc = getTestKeycloakDeployment(true);
+        var deploymentName = kc.getMetadata().getName();
+        deployKeycloak(k8sclient, kc, false, false);
+
+        // Check Operator has deployed Keycloak and the statefulset exists, this allows for the watched secret to be picked up
+        Log.info("Checking Operator has deployed Keycloak deployment");
+        Resource<StatefulSet> stsResource = k8sclient.resources(StatefulSet.class).withName(deploymentName);
+        Resource<Keycloak> keycloakResource = k8sclient.resources(Keycloak.class).withName(deploymentName);
+        // expect no errors and not ready, which means we'll keep reconciling
+        Awaitility.await().untilAsserted(() -> {
+            assertThat(stsResource.get()).isNotNull();
+            Keycloak keycloak = keycloakResource.get();
+            CRAssert.assertKeycloakStatusCondition(keycloak, KeycloakStatusCondition.HAS_ERRORS, false);
+            CRAssert.assertKeycloakStatusCondition(keycloak, KeycloakStatusCondition.READY, false);
+        });
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void testCRFields() {
         var kc = getTestKeycloakDeployment(true);
diff --git a/operator/src/test/java/org/keycloak/operator/testsuite/integration/WatchedSecretsTest.java b/operator/src/test/java/org/keycloak/operator/testsuite/integration/WatchedSecretsTest.java
index 37fee860ef..866df23473 100644
--- a/operator/src/test/java/org/keycloak/operator/testsuite/integration/WatchedSecretsTest.java
+++ b/operator/src/test/java/org/keycloak/operator/testsuite/integration/WatchedSecretsTest.java
@@ -87,8 +87,6 @@ public class WatchedSecretsTest extends BaseOperatorTest {
         var kc = getTestKeycloakDeployment(false);
         deployKeycloak(k8sclient, kc, true);
 
-        var prevRevision = getStatefulSet(kc).getStatus().getUpdateRevision();
-
         var dbSecret = getDbSecret();
 
         dbSecret.getData().put("username",