diff --git a/src/sonic-config-engine/sonic-cfggen b/src/sonic-config-engine/sonic-cfggen
index 5303557c4f..9f1323dab2 100755
--- a/src/sonic-config-engine/sonic-cfggen
+++ b/src/sonic-config-engine/sonic-cfggen
@@ -200,7 +200,7 @@ def main():
         print template.render(data)
 
     if args.var_json != None:
-        print json.dumps(data[args.var_json], indent=4, cls=minigraph_encoder)
+        print json.dumps(FormatConverter.to_serialized(data[args.var_json]), indent=4, cls=minigraph_encoder)
 
     if args.write_to_db:
         configdb = ConfigDBConnector()