diff --git a/tasks/lxc_cache_create.yml b/tasks/lxc_cache_create.yml
index 0d20fd13..8fe3f140 100644
--- a/tasks/lxc_cache_create.yml
+++ b/tasks/lxc_cache_create.yml
@@ -107,3 +107,19 @@
     - lxc_container_backing_store == 'lvm'
     - lxc_container_backing_method is defined
     - lxc_container_backing_method == 'copy-on-write'
+
+- name: Create base container to use for ZFS-backed containers
+  lxc_container:
+    name: "{{ lxc_container_base_name }}"
+    template: "download"
+    state: stopped
+    backing_store: "zfs"
+    zfs_root: "{{ lxc_container_zfs_root_name }}"
+    template_options: "{{ lxc_cache_download_template_options }}"
+  register: cache_download
+  retries: 3
+  delay: 10
+  until: cache_download|success
+  when:
+    - lxc_container_backing_store is defined
+    - lxc_container_backing_store == 'zfs'