diff --git a/internal/dataplane/util/ansible_execution.go b/internal/dataplane/util/ansible_execution.go
index 0a50ed875..b9776cdb8 100644
--- a/internal/dataplane/util/ansible_execution.go
+++ b/internal/dataplane/util/ansible_execution.go
@@ -279,7 +279,8 @@ func (a *EEJob) FormatAEEExtraVars(
 	}
 
 	if len(deployment.Spec.ServicesOverride) > 0 {
-		a.ExtraVars["edpm_services_override"] = json.RawMessage([]byte(fmt.Sprintf("\"%s\"", deployment.Spec.ServicesOverride)))
+		marshalServicesOverride, _ := json.Marshal(deployment.Spec.ServicesOverride)
+		a.ExtraVars["edpm_services_override"] = json.RawMessage(marshalServicesOverride)
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/internal/dataplane/util/ansibleee.go b/internal/dataplane/util/ansibleee.go
index 1cf79eb8e..ca4ffb8e5 100644
--- a/internal/dataplane/util/ansibleee.go
+++ b/internal/dataplane/util/ansibleee.go
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ package util //nolint:revive // util is an acceptable package name in this conte
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
-	"sort"
 
 	"github.com/openstack-k8s-operators/lib-common/modules/storage"
 	yaml "gopkg.in/yaml.v3"
@@ -175,22 +174,22 @@ func (a *EEJob) JobForOpenStackAnsibleEE(h *helper.Helper) (*batchv1.Job, error)
 
 	// if we have any extra vars for ansible to use set them in the RUNNER_EXTRA_VARS
 	if len(a.ExtraVars) > 0 {
-		keys := make([]string, 0, len(a.ExtraVars))
-		for k := range a.ExtraVars {
-			keys = append(keys, k)
-		}
-		sort.Strings(keys)
-		parsedExtraVars := ""
-		// unmarshal nested data structures
-		for _, variable := range keys {
+		extraVarsMap := make(map[string]interface{})
+		for variable, rawValue := range a.ExtraVars {
 			var tmp interface{}
-			err := yaml.Unmarshal(a.ExtraVars[variable], &tmp)
+			err := yaml.Unmarshal(rawValue, &tmp)
 			if err != nil {
 				return nil, err
 			}
-			parsedExtraVars += fmt.Sprintf("%s: %s\n", variable, tmp)
+			extraVarsMap[variable] = tmp
+		}
+
+		yamlBytes, err := yaml.Marshal(extraVarsMap)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
 		}
-		setRunnerEnvVar(h, "RUNNER_EXTRA_VARS", parsedExtraVars, "extraVars", job, hashes)
+
+		setRunnerEnvVar(h, "RUNNER_EXTRA_VARS", string(yamlBytes), "extraVars", job, hashes)
 	}
 
 	hashPodSpec(h, podSpec, hashes)
diff --git a/test/kuttl/tests/dataplane-deploy-no-nodes-test/04-assert.yaml b/test/kuttl/tests/dataplane-deploy-no-nodes-test/04-assert.yaml
index d11666214..322860f53 100644
--- a/test/kuttl/tests/dataplane-deploy-no-nodes-test/04-assert.yaml
+++ b/test/kuttl/tests/dataplane-deploy-no-nodes-test/04-assert.yaml
@@ -124,7 +124,8 @@ spec:
 
             edpm_override_hosts: edpm-compute-no-nodes
             edpm_service_type: ovn
-            edpm_services_override: [ovn]
+            edpm_services_override:
+                - ovn
 
 
         imagePullPolicy: Always
diff --git a/test/kuttl/tests/dataplane-deploy-no-nodes-test/07-assert.yaml b/test/kuttl/tests/dataplane-deploy-no-nodes-test/07-assert.yaml
index 32c1b4ca8..bb27c35c4 100644
--- a/test/kuttl/tests/dataplane-deploy-no-nodes-test/07-assert.yaml
+++ b/test/kuttl/tests/dataplane-deploy-no-nodes-test/07-assert.yaml
@@ -58,7 +58,8 @@ spec:
 
             edpm_override_hosts: edpm-compute-no-nodes
             edpm_service_type: configure-os
-            edpm_services_override: [configure-os]
+            edpm_services_override:
+                - configure-os
 
 
         imagePullPolicy: Always
diff --git a/test/kuttl/tests/dataplane-deploy-tls-test/03-assert.yaml b/test/kuttl/tests/dataplane-deploy-tls-test/03-assert.yaml
index e4d6f62b2..0aefd12c8 100644
--- a/test/kuttl/tests/dataplane-deploy-tls-test/03-assert.yaml
+++ b/test/kuttl/tests/dataplane-deploy-tls-test/03-assert.yaml
@@ -204,7 +204,10 @@ spec:
 
             edpm_override_hosts: openstack-edpm-tls
             edpm_service_type: tls-dns-ips
-            edpm_services_override: [install-certs-ovrd tls-dns-ips custom-tls-dns]
+            edpm_services_override:
+                - install-certs-ovrd
+                - tls-dns-ips
+                - custom-tls-dns
 
 
         imagePullPolicy: Always
@@ -315,7 +318,10 @@ spec:
 
             edpm_override_hosts: openstack-edpm-tls
             edpm_service_type: custom-tls-dns
-            edpm_services_override: [install-certs-ovrd tls-dns-ips custom-tls-dns]
+            edpm_services_override:
+                - install-certs-ovrd
+                - tls-dns-ips
+                - custom-tls-dns
 
 
         imagePullPolicy: Always