diff --git a/superset/db_engine_specs.py b/superset/db_engine_specs.py
index d1175352e9..80cc618eb0 100644
--- a/superset/db_engine_specs.py
+++ b/superset/db_engine_specs.py
@@ -63,6 +63,14 @@ class BaseEngineSpec(object):
         query object"""
         pass
 
+    @classmethod
+    def sql_preprocessor(cls, sql):
+        """If the SQL needs to be altered prior to running it
+
+        For example Presto needs to double `%` characters
+        """
+        return sql
+
 
 class PostgresEngineSpec(BaseEngineSpec):
     engine = 'postgresql'
@@ -172,6 +180,10 @@ class PrestoEngineSpec(BaseEngineSpec):
               "date_add('day', 1, CAST({col} AS TIMESTAMP))))"),
     )
 
+    @classmethod
+    def sql_preprocessor(cls, sql):
+        return sql.replace('%', '%%')
+
     @classmethod
     def convert_dttm(cls, target_type, dttm):
         tt = target_type.upper()
diff --git a/superset/sql_lab.py b/superset/sql_lab.py
index dba3beff36..5ee6546819 100644
--- a/superset/sql_lab.py
+++ b/superset/sql_lab.py
@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@ def get_sql_results(self, query_id, return_results=True, store_results=False):
         template_processor = get_template_processor(
             database=database, query=query)
         executed_sql = template_processor.process_template(executed_sql)
+        executed_sql = db_engine_spec.sql_preprocessor(executed_sql)
     except Exception as e:
         logging.exception(e)
         msg = "Template rendering failed: " + utils.error_msg_from_exception(e)