diff --git a/src/fetch.ts b/src/fetch.ts
index 10c91583..6c995f82 100644
--- a/src/fetch.ts
+++ b/src/fetch.ts
@@ -217,7 +217,19 @@ export function createFetch(globalOptions: CreateFetchOptions = {}): $Fetch {
           const data = await context.response.text();
           if (data) {
             const parseFunction = context.options.parseResponse || JSON.parse;
-            context.response._data = parseFunction(data);
+            try {
+              context.response._data = parseFunction(data);
+            } catch (error) {
+              // A successful response with a malformed JSON body is a real
+              // problem, so keep throwing there. For an error response the body
+              // is often not JSON (an HTML error page, plain text), and throwing
+              // a SyntaxError would bypass retry and ignoreResponseError, so keep
+              // the raw text and let it resolve to a FetchError instead.
+              if (context.response.ok) {
+                throw error;
+              }
+              context.response._data = data;
+            }
           }
           break;
         }
diff --git a/test/index.test.ts b/test/index.test.ts
index 5ac20b07..f927392e 100644
--- a/test/index.test.ts
+++ b/test/index.test.ts
@@ -18,6 +18,9 @@ describe("ofetch", () => {
 
   const fetch = vi.spyOn(globalThis, "fetch");
 
+  // Counter for the flaky route used by the non-JSON error retry test.
+  let flaky503Attempts = 0;
+
   beforeAll(async () => {
     const app = new H3({ debug: true })
       // .use(async (event) => {
@@ -52,6 +55,31 @@ describe("ofetch", () => {
         () => new HTTPError({ status: 403, statusMessage: "Forbidden" })
       )
       .all("/408", () => new HTTPError({ status: 408 }))
+      // Plain-text 503 with no Content-Type header, like a bare error page
+      // emitted by nginx/HAProxy/a CDN in front of the origin.
+      .all("/text-503", () => {
+        const response = new Response("Service Unavailable", { status: 503 });
+        response.headers.delete("content-type");
+        return response;
+      })
+      // Same non-JSON 503 on the first attempt, then a JSON 200, to verify the
+      // retry path still runs for a retryable status with a non-JSON body.
+      .all("/flaky-503", () => {
+        flaky503Attempts++;
+        if (flaky503Attempts < 2) {
+          const response = new Response("Service Unavailable", { status: 503 });
+          response.headers.delete("content-type");
+          return response;
+        }
+        return { ok: true };
+      })
+      // A successful (2xx) response whose JSON body is malformed. A parse
+      // failure here is a real error and must still surface.
+      .all("/bad-json-200", () => {
+        const response = new Response("{ not: valid", { status: 200 });
+        response.headers.set("content-type", "application/json");
+        return response;
+      })
       .all(
         "/204",
         () => null // eslint-disable-line unicorn/no-null
@@ -250,6 +278,46 @@ describe("ofetch", () => {
     expect(res?.message).to.eq("Forbidden");
   });
 
+  it("non-JSON error body without content-type resolves to a FetchError", async () => {
+    // A plain-text 4xx/5xx with no Content-Type must not throw a bare
+    // SyntaxError from JSON.parse; it must surface as a FetchError carrying
+    // the status and the raw text body.
+    const error = await $fetch(getURL("text-503"), { retry: 0 }).catch(
+      (error_: any) => error_
+    );
+    expect(error.constructor.name).to.equal("FetchError");
+    expect(error.status).to.equal(503);
+    expect(error.data).to.equal("Service Unavailable");
+  });
+
+  it("retries a retryable status whose body is non-JSON text", async () => {
+    flaky503Attempts = 0;
+    const result = await $fetch(getURL("flaky-503"), {
+      retry: 3,
+      retryDelay: 0,
+    });
+    expect(result).to.deep.equal({ ok: true });
+    expect(flaky503Attempts).to.equal(2);
+  });
+
+  it("throws when a successful response has a malformed JSON body", async () => {
+    await expect($fetch(getURL("bad-json-200"))).rejects.toThrow();
+  });
+
+  it("non-JSON error body is swallowed by ignoreResponseError", async () => {
+    const res = await $fetch(getURL("text-503"), {
+      ignoreResponseError: true,
+      retry: 0,
+    });
+    expect(res).to.equal("Service Unavailable");
+  });
+
+  it("valid JSON without content-type still parses to an object", async () => {
+    flaky503Attempts = 1; // force /flaky-503 to answer 200 JSON immediately
+    const res = await $fetch(getURL("flaky-503"), { retry: 0 });
+    expect(res).to.deep.equal({ ok: true });
+  });
+
   it("204 no content", async () => {
     const res = await $fetch(getURL("204"));
     expect(res).toBe(undefined);