diff --git a/src/DumpMiddleware.php b/src/DumpMiddleware.php
index c53e127..36e0625 100644
--- a/src/DumpMiddleware.php
+++ b/src/DumpMiddleware.php
@@ -52,7 +52,9 @@ namespace Dump {
                     }
 
                     if (isset($dump)) {
-                        $stream->write(json_encode(array_merge(["_dump" => $dump ?? []], json_decode($body->getContents() ?? "{}", true)), JsonResponse::DEFAULT_JSON_FLAGS));
+                        $json = json_encode(array_merge(["_dump" => $dump ], json_decode($body->getContents() ?? "{}", true)), JsonResponse::DEFAULT_JSON_FLAGS);
+
+                        $stream->write(! is_string($json) ? json_encode($json, JsonResponse::DEFAULT_JSON_FLAGS) : $json);
                     }
 
                     $stream->append_resource($body->detach());