diff --git a/esphome/config_validation.py b/esphome/config_validation.py
index 6d6cb451d6..719cc43b31 100644
--- a/esphome/config_validation.py
+++ b/esphome/config_validation.py
@@ -1864,7 +1864,7 @@ def maybe_simple_value(*validators, **kwargs):
         if value == SCHEMA_EXTRACT:
             return (validator, key)
 
-        if isinstance(value, dict):
+        if isinstance(value, dict) and key in value:
             return validator(value)
         return validator({key: value})