diff --git a/core/src/main/java/io/confluent/rest/Application.java b/core/src/main/java/io/confluent/rest/Application.java
index f82b9fdb7b..711026c15a 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/io/confluent/rest/Application.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/io/confluent/rest/Application.java
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
  */
 package io.confluent.rest;
 
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.jaxrs.base.JsonParseExceptionMapper;
 
 import org.eclipse.jetty.server.Handler;
@@ -131,7 +132,9 @@ protected void doStop() throws Exception {
   public void configureBaseApplication(Configurable<?> config) {
     RestConfig restRestConfig = getConfiguration();
 
-    config.register(JacksonMessageBodyProvider.class);
+    ObjectMapper jsonMapper = getJsonMapper();
+    JacksonMessageBodyProvider jsonProvider = new JacksonMessageBodyProvider(jsonMapper);
+    config.register(jsonProvider);
     config.register(JsonParseExceptionMapper.class);
 
     config.register(ValidationFeature.class);
@@ -146,6 +149,16 @@ public T getConfiguration() {
     return this.config;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Gets a JSON ObjectMapper to use for (de)serialization of request/response entities. Override
+   * this to configure the behavior of the serializer. One simple example of customization is to
+   * set the INDENT_OUTPUT flag to make the output more readable. The default is a default
+   * Jackson ObjectMapper.
+   */
+  protected ObjectMapper getJsonMapper() {
+    return new ObjectMapper();
+  }
+
   /**
    * Start the server (creating it if necessary).
    * @throws Exception
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/io/confluent/rest/validation/JacksonMessageBodyProvider.java b/core/src/main/java/io/confluent/rest/validation/JacksonMessageBodyProvider.java
index f2964d54c0..fc8a70b49b 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/io/confluent/rest/validation/JacksonMessageBodyProvider.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/io/confluent/rest/validation/JacksonMessageBodyProvider.java
@@ -43,6 +43,10 @@ public JacksonMessageBodyProvider() {
     setMapper(new ObjectMapper());
   }
 
+  public JacksonMessageBodyProvider(ObjectMapper mapper) {
+    setMapper(mapper);
+  }
+
   @Override
   protected boolean hasMatchingMediaType(MediaType mediaType) {
     return super.hasMatchingMediaType(mediaType) ||