diff --git a/rust/datafusion/src/execution/context.rs b/rust/datafusion/src/execution/context.rs
index 850ce745c8c..c2202c59110 100644
--- a/rust/datafusion/src/execution/context.rs
+++ b/rust/datafusion/src/execution/context.rs
@@ -154,7 +154,10 @@ impl ExecutionContext {
                 ))),
             },
 
-            plan => Ok(Arc::new(DataFrameImpl::new(self.state.clone(), &plan))),
+            plan => Ok(Arc::new(DataFrameImpl::new(
+                self.state.clone(),
+                &self.optimize(&plan)?,
+            ))),
         }
     }
 
@@ -1702,6 +1705,23 @@ mod tests {
         }
         Ok(())
     }
+    #[test]
+    fn ctx_sql_should_optimize_plan() -> Result<()> {
+        let mut ctx = ExecutionContext::new();
+        let plan1 =
+            ctx.create_logical_plan("SELECT * FROM (SELECT 1) WHERE TRUE AND TRUE")?;
+
+        let opt_plan1 = ctx.optimize(&plan1)?;
+
+        let plan2 = ctx.sql("SELECT * FROM (SELECT 1) WHERE TRUE AND TRUE")?;
+
+        assert_eq!(
+            format!("{:?}", opt_plan1),
+            format!("{:?}", plan2.to_logical_plan())
+        );
+
+        Ok(())
+    }
 
     #[tokio::test]
     async fn scalar_udf() -> Result<()> {
diff --git a/rust/datafusion/src/optimizer/projection_push_down.rs b/rust/datafusion/src/optimizer/projection_push_down.rs
index 115da4b3010..432b64501a3 100644
--- a/rust/datafusion/src/optimizer/projection_push_down.rs
+++ b/rust/datafusion/src/optimizer/projection_push_down.rs
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 //! Projection Push Down optimizer rule ensures that only referenced columns are
 //! loaded into memory
 
-use crate::error::{DataFusionError, Result};
+use crate::error::Result;
 use crate::logical_plan::{DFField, DFSchema, DFSchemaRef, LogicalPlan, ToDFSchema};
 use crate::optimizer::optimizer::OptimizerRule;
 use crate::optimizer::utils;
@@ -57,16 +57,9 @@ impl ProjectionPushDown {
 
 fn get_projected_schema(
     schema: &Schema,
-    projection: &Option<Vec<usize>>,
     required_columns: &HashSet<String>,
     has_projection: bool,
 ) -> Result<(Vec<usize>, DFSchemaRef)> {
-    if projection.is_some() {
-        return Err(DataFusionError::Internal(
-            "Cannot run projection push-down rule more than once".to_string(),
-        ));
-    }
-
     // once we reach the table scan, we can use the accumulated set of column
     // names to construct the set of column indexes in the scan
     //
@@ -242,16 +235,11 @@ fn optimize_plan(
         LogicalPlan::TableScan {
             table_name,
             source,
-            projection,
             filters,
             ..
         } => {
-            let (projection, projected_schema) = get_projected_schema(
-                &source.schema(),
-                projection,
-                required_columns,
-                has_projection,
-            )?;
+            let (projection, projected_schema) =
+                get_projected_schema(&source.schema(), required_columns, has_projection)?;
 
             // return the table scan with projection
             Ok(LogicalPlan::TableScan {
@@ -491,6 +479,26 @@ mod tests {
         Ok(())
     }
 
+    /// tests that optimizing twice yields same plan
+    #[test]
+    fn test_double_optimization() -> Result<()> {
+        let table_scan = test_table_scan()?;
+
+        let plan = LogicalPlanBuilder::from(&table_scan)
+            .project(&[col("b")])?
+            .project(&[lit(1).alias("a")])?
+            .build()?;
+
+        let optimized_plan1 = optimize(&plan).expect("failed to optimize plan");
+        let optimized_plan2 =
+            optimize(&optimized_plan1).expect("failed to optimize plan");
+
+        let formatted_plan1 = format!("{:?}", optimized_plan1);
+        let formatted_plan2 = format!("{:?}", optimized_plan2);
+        assert_eq!(formatted_plan1, formatted_plan2);
+        Ok(())
+    }
+
     /// tests that it removes an aggregate is never used downstream
     #[test]
     fn table_unused_aggregate() -> Result<()> {