diff --git a/atom/browser/api/lib/menu-item.coffee b/atom/browser/api/lib/menu-item.coffee
index 57beb6ffda..737f9c000d 100644
--- a/atom/browser/api/lib/menu-item.coffee
+++ b/atom/browser/api/lib/menu-item.coffee
@@ -24,8 +24,10 @@ class MenuItem
   constructor: (options) ->
     {Menu} = require 'electron'
 
-    {click, @selector, @type, @role, @label, @sublabel, @accelerator, @icon, @enabled, @visible, @checked, @submenu} = options
+    {click, @selector, @type, @role, @label, @sublabel, @accelerator, @icon, @enabled, @visible, @checked} = options
 
+    if options.submenu? and options.submenu.constructor isnt Menu
+      @submenu = Menu.buildFromTemplate options.submenu
     @type = 'submenu' if not @type? and @submenu?
     throw new Error('Invalid submenu') if @type is 'submenu' and @submenu?.constructor isnt Menu
 
diff --git a/atom/browser/api/lib/menu.coffee b/atom/browser/api/lib/menu.coffee
index 26e2dc2335..eac6a607fd 100644
--- a/atom/browser/api/lib/menu.coffee
+++ b/atom/browser/api/lib/menu.coffee
@@ -169,7 +169,6 @@ Menu.buildFromTemplate = (template) ->
   for item in positionedTemplate
     throw new TypeError('Invalid template for MenuItem') unless typeof item is 'object'
 
-    item.submenu = Menu.buildFromTemplate item.submenu if item.submenu?
     menuItem = new MenuItem(item)
     menuItem[key] = value for key, value of item when not menuItem[key]?
     menu.append menuItem