diff --git a/src/cluster.c b/src/cluster.c
index 80ac66e41..bb688425b 100644
--- a/src/cluster.c
+++ b/src/cluster.c
@@ -4409,7 +4409,7 @@ try_again:
     /* Check if the key is here. If not we reply with success as there is
      * nothing to migrate (for instance the key expired in the meantime), but
      * we include such information in the reply string. */
-    if ((o = lookupKeyRead(c->db,c->argv[3])) == NULL) {
+    if ((o = lookupKeyWrite(c->db,c->argv[3])) == NULL) {
         addReplySds(c,sdsnew("+NOKEY\r\n"));
         return;
     }
diff --git a/src/db.c b/src/db.c
index 2982c0166..b7756bf27 100644
--- a/src/db.c
+++ b/src/db.c
@@ -60,7 +60,32 @@ robj *lookupKey(redisDb *db, robj *key) {
 robj *lookupKeyRead(redisDb *db, robj *key) {
     robj *val;
 
-    expireIfNeeded(db,key);
+    if (expireIfNeeded(db,key) == 1) {
+        /* Key expired. If we are in the context of a master, expireIfNeeded()
+         * returns 0 only when the key does not exist at all, so it's save
+         * to return NULL ASAP. */
+        if (server.masterhost == NULL) return NULL;
+
+        /* However if we are in the context of a slave, expireIfNeeded() will
+         * not really try to expire the key, it only returns information
+         * about the "logical" status of the key: key expiring is up to the
+         * master in order to have a consistent view of master's data set.
+         *
+         * However, if the command caller is not the master, and as additional
+         * safety measure, the command invoked is a read-only command, we can
+         * safely return NULL here, and provide a more consistent behavior
+         * to clients accessign expired values in a read-only fashion, that
+         * will say the key as non exisitng.
+         *
+         * Notably this covers GETs when slaves are used to scale reads. */
+        if (server.current_client &&
+            server.current_client != server.master &&
+            server.current_client->cmd &&
+            server.current_client->cmd->flags & REDIS_CMD_READONLY)
+        {
+            return NULL;
+        }
+    }
     val = lookupKey(db,key);
     if (val == NULL)
         server.stat_keyspace_misses++;
@@ -877,7 +902,7 @@ void expireGenericCommand(redisClient *c, long long basetime, int unit) {
     when += basetime;
 
     /* No key, return zero. */
-    if (lookupKeyRead(c->db,key) == NULL) {
+    if (lookupKeyWrite(c->db,key) == NULL) {
         addReply(c,shared.czero);
         return;
     }
diff --git a/src/debug.c b/src/debug.c
index a22556bd2..27f2c96b9 100644
--- a/src/debug.c
+++ b/src/debug.c
@@ -338,7 +338,7 @@ void debugCommand(redisClient *c) {
             snprintf(buf,sizeof(buf),"%s:%lu",
                 (c->argc == 3) ? "key" : (char*)c->argv[3]->ptr, j);
             key = createStringObject(buf,strlen(buf));
-            if (lookupKeyRead(c->db,key) != NULL) {
+            if (lookupKeyWrite(c->db,key) != NULL) {
                 decrRefCount(key);
                 continue;
             }
diff --git a/src/hyperloglog.c b/src/hyperloglog.c
index a6cfdc742..b3542f997 100644
--- a/src/hyperloglog.c
+++ b/src/hyperloglog.c
@@ -1233,7 +1233,7 @@ void pfcountCommand(redisClient *c) {
      *
      * The user specified a single key. Either return the cached value
      * or compute one and update the cache. */
-    o = lookupKeyRead(c->db,c->argv[1]);
+    o = lookupKeyWrite(c->db,c->argv[1]);
     if (o == NULL) {
         /* No key? Cardinality is zero since no element was added, otherwise
          * we would have a key as HLLADD creates it as a side effect. */
@@ -1458,7 +1458,7 @@ void pfdebugCommand(redisClient *c) {
     robj *o;
     int j;
 
-    o = lookupKeyRead(c->db,c->argv[2]);
+    o = lookupKeyWrite(c->db,c->argv[2]);
     if (o == NULL) {
         addReplyError(c,"The specified key does not exist");
         return;
diff --git a/src/t_list.c b/src/t_list.c
index 7c79185fd..fc27331f5 100644
--- a/src/t_list.c
+++ b/src/t_list.c
@@ -334,7 +334,7 @@ void pushxGenericCommand(redisClient *c, robj *refval, robj *val, int where) {
     listTypeEntry entry;
     int inserted = 0;
 
-    if ((subject = lookupKeyReadOrReply(c,c->argv[1],shared.czero)) == NULL ||
+    if ((subject = lookupKeyWriteOrReply(c,c->argv[1],shared.czero)) == NULL ||
         checkType(c,subject,REDIS_LIST)) return;
 
     if (refval != NULL) {