diff --git a/fs/btrfs/inode.c b/fs/btrfs/inode.c
index db3f67b58104..dec7eea8aa29 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/inode.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/inode.c
@@ -5318,7 +5318,7 @@ void btrfs_evict_inode(struct inode *inode)
 	trace_btrfs_inode_evict(inode);
 
 	if (!root) {
-		kmem_cache_free(btrfs_inode_cachep, BTRFS_I(inode));
+		clear_inode(inode);
 		return;
 	}