diff --git a/test/simple/test-fs-watch-recursive.js b/test/simple/test-fs-watch-recursive.js
index a5ebad605f..e421ab0222 100644
--- a/test/simple/test-fs-watch-recursive.js
+++ b/test/simple/test-fs-watch-recursive.js
@@ -30,7 +30,8 @@ if (process.platform === 'darwin') {
   var testDir = common.tmpDir;
 
   var filenameOne = 'watch.txt';
-  var testsubdir = path.join(testDir, 'testsubdir');
+  var testsubdirName = 'testsubdir';
+  var testsubdir = path.join(testDir, testsubdirName);
   var relativePathOne = path.join('testsubdir', filenameOne);
   var filepathOne = path.join(testsubdir, filenameOne);
 
@@ -44,12 +45,16 @@ if (process.platform === 'darwin') {
   };
 
   try { fs.mkdirSync(testsubdir, 0700); } catch (e) {}
-  fs.writeFileSync(filepathOne, 'hello');
 
   assert.doesNotThrow(function() {
     var watcher = fs.watch(testDir, {recursive: true});
     watcher.on('change', function(event, filename) {
       assert.ok('change' === event || 'rename' === event);
+
+      // Ignore stale events generated by mkdir
+      if (filename === testsubdirName)
+        return;
+
       assert.equal(relativePathOne, filename);
 
       watcher.close();