diff --git a/src/runtime/index.ts b/src/runtime/index.ts
index 10ff0afb..002e8b8c 100644
--- a/src/runtime/index.ts
+++ b/src/runtime/index.ts
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ export { useComponent, useState } from "./component_node";
 export { status } from "./status";
 export { reactive, markRaw, toRaw } from "./reactivity";
 export { useEffect, useEnv, useExternalListener, useRef, useChildSubEnv, useSubEnv } from "./hooks";
-export { batched, EventBus, whenReady, loadFile, markup } from "./utils";
+export { batched, EventBus, htmlEscape, whenReady, loadFile, markup } from "./utils";
 export {
   onWillStart,
   onMounted,
diff --git a/src/runtime/utils.ts b/src/runtime/utils.ts
index 7445fa47..ccdbc13f 100644
--- a/src/runtime/utils.ts
+++ b/src/runtime/utils.ts
@@ -111,15 +111,15 @@ export async function loadFile(url: string): Promise<string> {
  */
 export class Markup extends String {}
 
-function _escapeHtml(str: any): string | Markup {
+export function htmlEscape(str: any): Markup {
   if (str instanceof Markup) {
     return str;
   }
   if (str === undefined) {
-    return "";
+    return markup("");
   }
   if (typeof str === "number") {
-    return String(str);
+    return markup(String(str));
   }
   [
     ["&", "&amp;"],
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ function _escapeHtml(str: any): string | Markup {
   ].forEach((pairs) => {
     str = String(str).replace(new RegExp(pairs[0], "g"), pairs[1]);
   });
-  return str;
+  return markup(str);
 }
 
 /*
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ export function markup(
   let acc = "";
   let i = 0;
   for (; i < placeholders.length; ++i) {
-    acc += strings[i] + _escapeHtml(placeholders[i]);
+    acc += strings[i] + htmlEscape(placeholders[i]);
   }
   acc += strings[i];
   return new Markup(acc);
diff --git a/tests/utils.test.ts b/tests/utils.test.ts
index bc9097b2..44466d6b 100644
--- a/tests/utils.test.ts
+++ b/tests/utils.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { batched, EventBus, markup } from "../src/runtime/utils";
+import { batched, EventBus, htmlEscape, markup } from "../src/runtime/utils";
 import { nextMicroTick } from "./helpers";
 
 describe("event bus behaviour", () => {
@@ -78,6 +78,61 @@ describe("markup", () => {
     const html = markup("<blink>Hello</blink>");
     expect(html).toBeInstanceOf(Markup);
   });
+  describe("htmlEscape", () => {
+    test("htmlEscape escapes text", () => {
+      const res = htmlEscape("<p>test</p>");
+      expect(res.toString()).toBe("&lt;p&gt;test&lt;/p&gt;");
+      expect(res).toBeInstanceOf(Markup);
+    });
+    test("htmlEscape keeps html markup", () => {
+      const res = htmlEscape(markup("<p>test</p>"));
+      expect(res.toString()).toBe("<p>test</p>");
+      expect(res).toBeInstanceOf(Markup);
+    });
+    test("htmlEscape produces empty string on undefined", () => {
+      const res = htmlEscape(undefined);
+      expect(res.toString()).toBe("");
+      expect(res).toBeInstanceOf(Markup);
+    });
+    test("htmlEscape produces string from number", () => {
+      const res = htmlEscape(10);
+      expect(res.toString()).toBe("10");
+      expect(res).toBeInstanceOf(Markup);
+    });
+    test("htmlEscape produces string from boolean", () => {
+      const res = htmlEscape(false);
+      expect(res.toString()).toBe("false");
+      expect(res).toBeInstanceOf(Markup);
+    });
+    test("htmlEscape correctly escapes various links", () => {
+      expect(htmlEscape("<a>this is a link</a>").toString()).toBe(
+        "&lt;a&gt;this is a link&lt;/a&gt;"
+      );
+      expect(htmlEscape(`<a href="https://www.odoo.com">odoo<a>`).toString()).toBe(
+        `&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.odoo.com&quot;&gt;odoo&lt;a&gt;`
+      );
+      expect(htmlEscape(`<a href='https://www.odoo.com'>odoo<a>`).toString()).toBe(
+        `&lt;a href=&#x27;https://www.odoo.com&#x27;&gt;odoo&lt;a&gt;`
+      );
+      expect(htmlEscape("<a href='https://www.odoo.com'>Odoo`s website<a>").toString()).toBe(
+        `&lt;a href=&#x27;https://www.odoo.com&#x27;&gt;Odoo&#x60;s website&lt;a&gt;`
+      );
+    });
+    test("htmlEscape doesn't escape already escaped content", () => {
+      const res = htmlEscape("<p>test</p>");
+      expect(res.toString()).toBe("&lt;p&gt;test&lt;/p&gt;");
+      expect(res).toBeInstanceOf(Markup);
+      const res2 = htmlEscape(res);
+      expect(res2.toString()).toBe("&lt;p&gt;test&lt;/p&gt;");
+      expect(res2).toBeInstanceOf(Markup);
+      expect(res2).toBe(res);
+    });
+    test("htmlEscape returns markup even for only-safe text", () => {
+      const res = htmlEscape("safe");
+      expect(res.toString()).toBe("safe");
+      expect(res).toBeInstanceOf(Markup);
+    });
+  });
   describe("tag function", () => {
     test("interpolated values are escaped", () => {
       const maliciousInput = "<script>alert('💥💥')</script>";
@@ -99,5 +154,11 @@ describe("markup", () => {
       const html = markup`<img src="${imgUrl}">`;
       expect(html.toString()).toBe(`<img src="lol&quot; onerror=&quot;alert(&#x27;xss&#x27;)">`);
     });
+    test("already escaped content is not escaped again", () => {
+      const res = htmlEscape("<p>test</p>");
+      expect(res.toString()).toBe("&lt;p&gt;test&lt;/p&gt;");
+      const html = markup`${res}`;
+      expect(html.toString()).toBe("&lt;p&gt;test&lt;/p&gt;");
+    });
   });
 });