diff --git a/earthdiagnostics/config.py b/earthdiagnostics/config.py
index 7340daddb28c84f093cf149a883f914f746117df..8d373efa612afe292d139063b6caaaa9c6b05310 100644
--- a/earthdiagnostics/config.py
+++ b/earthdiagnostics/config.py
@@ -238,7 +238,8 @@ class Config(object):
                     " ".join(added_commands),
                 )
                 for add_command in added_commands:
-                    self._real_commands.append(add_command)
+                    if add_command:
+                        self._real_commands.append(add_command)
             else:
                 self._real_commands.append(command)
 
diff --git a/test/unit/test_config.py b/test/unit/test_config.py
index 5e4a1ae658d68feca96adfc1591f9a380c883701..b8bc4cc0f472506ca32ceaaee94164cbff6c2909 100644
--- a/test/unit/test_config.py
+++ b/test/unit/test_config.py
@@ -745,6 +745,13 @@ class TestConfig(TestCase):
         self._parse(config)
         self.assertEqual(config.get_commands(), ["diag3", "diag2"])
 
+    def test_empty_alias(self):
+        """Test alias parsing"""
+        config = Config()
+        self.mock_parser.add_value("ALIAS", "diag1", "")
+        self._parse(config)
+        self.assertEqual(config.get_commands(), ["diag2"])
+
     def test_auto_clean_ram_disk(self):
         """Test that USE_RAMDISK forces AUTO_CLEAN to true"""
         config = Config()