diff --git a/addons/web/static/src/core/utils/render.js b/addons/web/static/src/core/utils/render.js
index db0f5cfcb95..34cfd9abcab 100644
--- a/addons/web/static/src/core/utils/render.js
+++ b/addons/web/static/src/core/utils/render.js
@@ -3,7 +3,9 @@
 import { blockDom, markup } from "@odoo/owl";
 
 export function renderToElement(template, context = {}) {
-    return render(template, context).firstElementChild;
+    const el = render(template, context).firstElementChild;
+    el?.remove();
+    return el;
 }
 
 export function renderToFragment(template, context = {}) {
diff --git a/addons/web/static/tests/core/utils/render_tests.js b/addons/web/static/tests/core/utils/render_tests.js
index a8d745ff557..a395188d6e6 100644
--- a/addons/web/static/tests/core/utils/render_tests.js
+++ b/addons/web/static/tests/core/utils/render_tests.js
@@ -16,6 +16,11 @@ QUnit.module("utils", () => {
             </t>`
         );
         const compiledTemplate = renderToElement("test.render.template.1");
+        assert.strictEqual(
+            compiledTemplate.parentElement,
+            null,
+            "compiledTemplate.parentElement must be empty"
+        );
         assert.strictEqual(
             compiledTemplate.nodeType,
             Node.ELEMENT_NODE,