diff --git a/core/modules/hal/src/Normalizer/EntityReferenceItemNormalizer.php b/core/modules/hal/src/Normalizer/EntityReferenceItemNormalizer.php
index 671a1eed3b..1a4ef54e12 100644
--- a/core/modules/hal/src/Normalizer/EntityReferenceItemNormalizer.php
+++ b/core/modules/hal/src/Normalizer/EntityReferenceItemNormalizer.php
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 use Drupal\Core\Entity\EntityTypeManagerInterface;
 use Drupal\Core\Entity\FieldableEntityInterface;
+use Drupal\Core\Field\FieldItemInterface;
 use Drupal\Core\Field\Plugin\Field\FieldType\EntityReferenceItem;
 use Drupal\hal\LinkManager\LinkManagerInterface;
 use Drupal\serialization\EntityResolver\EntityResolverInterface;
@@ -68,11 +69,7 @@ public function normalize($field_item, $format = NULL, array $context = []) {
     // If this is not a fieldable entity, let the parent implementation handle
     // it, only fieldable entities are supported as embedded resources.
     if (!$this->targetEntityIsFieldable($field_item)) {
-      $normalized = parent::normalize($field_item, $format, $context);
-
-      $this->normalizeRootReferenceValue($normalized, $field_item);
-
-      return $normalized;
+      return parent::normalize($field_item, $format, $context);
     }
 
     /** @var $field_item \Drupal\Core\Field\FieldItemInterface */
@@ -157,6 +154,22 @@ protected function constructValue($data, $context) {
     return NULL;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * {@inheritdoc}
+   */
+  protected function normalizedFieldValues(FieldItemInterface $field_item, $format, array $context) {
+    // Normalize root reference values here so we don't need to deal with hal's
+    // nested data structure for field items. This will be called from
+    // \Drupal\hal\Normalizer\FieldItemNormalizer::normalize. Which will only
+    // be called from this class for entities that are not fieldable.
+    $normalized = parent::normalizedFieldValues($field_item, $format, $context);
+
+    $this->normalizeRootReferenceValue($normalized, $field_item);
+
+    return $normalized;
+  }
+
+
   /**
    * {@inheritdoc}
    */
diff --git a/core/modules/serialization/tests/src/Unit/Normalizer/EntityReferenceFieldItemNormalizerTest.php b/core/modules/serialization/tests/src/Unit/Normalizer/EntityReferenceFieldItemNormalizerTest.php
index c6806f8c31..9320d17ba2 100644
--- a/core/modules/serialization/tests/src/Unit/Normalizer/EntityReferenceFieldItemNormalizerTest.php
+++ b/core/modules/serialization/tests/src/Unit/Normalizer/EntityReferenceFieldItemNormalizerTest.php
@@ -120,6 +120,13 @@ public function testNormalize() {
       ->willReturn($entity->reveal())
       ->shouldBeCalled();
 
+    $field_definition = $this->prophesize(FieldDefinitionInterface::class);
+    $field_definition->getSetting('target_type')
+      ->willReturn('test_type');
+
+    $this->fieldItem->getFieldDefinition()
+      ->willReturn($field_definition->reveal());
+
     $this->fieldItem->get('entity')
       ->willReturn($entity_reference)
       ->shouldBeCalled();
@@ -188,6 +195,13 @@ public function testNormalizeWithNoEntity() {
       ->willReturn(NULL)
       ->shouldBeCalled();
 
+    $field_definition = $this->prophesize(FieldDefinitionInterface::class);
+    $field_definition->getSetting('target_type')
+      ->willReturn('test_type');
+
+    $this->fieldItem->getFieldDefinition()
+      ->willReturn($field_definition->reveal());
+
     $this->fieldItem->get('entity')
       ->willReturn($entity_reference->reveal())
       ->shouldBeCalled();