diff --git a/packages/slate-html-serializer/src/index.js b/packages/slate-html-serializer/src/index.js
index f4be5b56b..80ae6d1ba 100644
--- a/packages/slate-html-serializer/src/index.js
+++ b/packages/slate-html-serializer/src/index.js
@@ -78,7 +78,8 @@ function defaultParseHtml(html) {
 
   const parsed = new DOMParser().parseFromString(html, 'text/html')
   const { body } = parsed
-  return body
+  // COMPAT: in IE 11 body is null if html is an empty string
+  return body || window.document.createElement('body')
 }
 
 /**