diff --git a/superset/sql_lab.py b/superset/sql_lab.py
index 63225f3e2d0..87a6b44295b 100644
--- a/superset/sql_lab.py
+++ b/superset/sql_lab.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ from time import sleep
 import uuid
 
 from celery.exceptions import SoftTimeLimitExceeded
+import numpy as np
 import pandas as pd
 import sqlalchemy
 from sqlalchemy.orm import sessionmaker
@@ -85,6 +86,26 @@ def get_session(nullpool):
     return session
 
 
+def convert_results_to_df(cursor_description, data):
+    """Convert raw query results to a DataFrame."""
+    column_names = (
+        [col[0] for col in cursor_description] if cursor_description else [])
+    column_names = dedup(column_names)
+
+    # check whether the result set has any nested dict columns
+    if data:
+        first_row = data[0]
+        has_dict_col = any([isinstance(c, dict) for c in first_row])
+        df_data = list(data) if has_dict_col else np.array(data)
+    else:
+        df_data = []
+
+    cdf = dataframe.SupersetDataFrame(
+        pd.DataFrame(df_data, columns=column_names))
+
+    return cdf
+
+
 @celery_app.task(bind=True, soft_time_limit=SQLLAB_TIMEOUT)
 def get_sql_results(
         ctask, query_id, return_results=True, store_results=False,
@@ -224,11 +245,7 @@ def execute_sql(
             },
             default=utils.json_iso_dttm_ser)
 
-    column_names = (
-        [col[0] for col in cursor_description] if cursor_description else [])
-    column_names = dedup(column_names)
-    cdf = dataframe.SupersetDataFrame(
-        pd.DataFrame(list(data), columns=column_names))
+    cdf = convert_results_to_df(cursor_description, data)
 
     query.rows = cdf.size
     query.progress = 100
diff --git a/tests/sqllab_tests.py b/tests/sqllab_tests.py
index 2caf4c2ae16..53144eadacd 100644
--- a/tests/sqllab_tests.py
+++ b/tests/sqllab_tests.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ from flask_appbuilder.security.sqla import models as ab_models
 
 from superset import appbuilder, db, sm, utils
 from superset.models.sql_lab import Query
+from superset.sql_lab import convert_results_to_df
 from .base_tests import SupersetTestCase
 
 
@@ -200,6 +201,22 @@ class SqlLabTests(SupersetTestCase):
             user_name='admin',
             raise_on_error=True)
 
+    def test_df_conversion_no_dict(self):
+        cols = [['string_col'], ['int_col']]
+        data = [['a', 4]]
+        cdf = convert_results_to_df(cols, data)
+
+        self.assertEquals(len(data), cdf.size)
+        self.assertEquals(len(cols), len(cdf.columns))
+
+    def test_df_conversion_dict(self):
+        cols = [['string_col'], ['dict_col'], ['int_col']]
+        data = [['a', {'c1': 1, 'c2': 2, 'c3': 3}, 4]]
+        cdf = convert_results_to_df(cols, data)
+
+        self.assertEquals(len(data), cdf.size)
+        self.assertEquals(len(cols), len(cdf.columns))
+
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     unittest.main()