diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 31afde56d53..f3197719e40 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 - Updated `pkg/test/e2eutil.WaitForDeployment()` and `pkg/test/e2eutil.WaitForOperatorDeployment()` to successfully complete waiting when the available replica count is _at least_ (rather than exactly) the minimum replica count required. ([#2248](https://github.com/operator-framework/operator-sdk/pull/2248))
 - Replace in the Ansible based operators module tests `k8s_info` for `k8s_facts` which is deprecated. ([#2168](https://github.com/operator-framework/operator-sdk/issues/2168))
 - Upgrade the Ansible version from `2.8` to `2.9` on the Ansible based operators image. ([#2168](https://github.com/operator-framework/operator-sdk/issues/2168))
+- Updated CRD generation for non-Go operators to use valid structural schema. ([#2275](https://github.com/operator-framework/operator-sdk/issues/2275))
 
 ### Deprecated
 
diff --git a/internal/scaffold/crd.go b/internal/scaffold/crd.go
index 7959440b00e..199713b532a 100644
--- a/internal/scaffold/crd.go
+++ b/internal/scaffold/crd.go
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 package scaffold
 
 import (
+	goerrors "errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"os"
@@ -147,6 +148,10 @@ func (s *CRD) CustomRender() ([]byte, error) {
 					return nil, err
 				}
 			}
+		} else if goerrors.Is(err, afero.ErrFileNotFound) {
+			crd = newCRDForResource(s.Resource)
+		} else {
+			return nil, err
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -187,6 +192,7 @@ func runCRDGenerator(rule genall.OutputRule, root string) (err error) {
 }
 
 func newCRDForResource(r *Resource) *apiextv1beta1.CustomResourceDefinition {
+	trueVal := true
 	crd := &apiextv1beta1.CustomResourceDefinition{
 		TypeMeta: metav1.TypeMeta{
 			APIVersion: apiextv1beta1.SchemeGroupVersion.String(),
@@ -204,6 +210,12 @@ func newCRDForResource(r *Resource) *apiextv1beta1.CustomResourceDefinition {
 			Subresources: &apiextv1beta1.CustomResourceSubresources{
 				Status: &apiextv1beta1.CustomResourceSubresourceStatus{},
 			},
+			Validation: &apiextv1beta1.CustomResourceValidation{
+				OpenAPIV3Schema: &apiextv1beta1.JSONSchemaProps{
+					Type:                   "object",
+					XPreserveUnknownFields: &trueVal,
+				},
+			},
 		},
 	}
 	setCRDNamesForResource(crd, r)
diff --git a/internal/scaffold/crd_test.go b/internal/scaffold/crd_test.go
index fb45867285e..5e21735b6b9 100644
--- a/internal/scaffold/crd_test.go
+++ b/internal/scaffold/crd_test.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import (
 	"path/filepath"
 	"testing"
 
+	"github.com/operator-framework/operator-sdk/internal/scaffold/input"
 	testutil "github.com/operator-framework/operator-sdk/internal/scaffold/internal/testutil"
 	"github.com/operator-framework/operator-sdk/internal/util/diffutil"
 	"github.com/operator-framework/operator-sdk/internal/util/fileutil"
@@ -122,7 +123,54 @@ spec:
     storage: true
 `
 
-func TestCRDNonGoProject(t *testing.T) {
+func TestCRDNonGoProjectDefault(t *testing.T) {
+	s, buf := setupScaffoldAndWriter()
+	s.Fs = afero.NewMemMapFs()
+
+	r, err := NewResource(appApiVersion, appKind)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	crd := &CRD{Resource: r}
+	cfg := &input.Config{}
+	if err = s.Execute(cfg, crd); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Failed to execute the scaffold: (%v)", err)
+	}
+
+	if crdNonGoDefaultExp != buf.String() {
+		diffs := diffutil.Diff(crdNonGoDefaultExp, buf.String())
+		t.Fatalf("Expected vs actual differs.\n%v", diffs)
+	}
+}
+
+// crdNonGoDefaultExp is the default non-go CRD. Non-go projects don't have the
+// luxury of kubebuilder annotations.
+const crdNonGoDefaultExp = `apiVersion: apiextensions.k8s.io/v1beta1
+kind: CustomResourceDefinition
+metadata:
+  name: appservices.app.example.com
+spec:
+  group: app.example.com
+  names:
+    kind: AppService
+    listKind: AppServiceList
+    plural: appservices
+    singular: appservice
+  scope: Namespaced
+  subresources:
+    status: {}
+  validation:
+    openAPIV3Schema:
+      type: object
+      x-kubernetes-preserve-unknown-fields: true
+  versions:
+  - name: v1alpha1
+    served: true
+    storage: true
+`
+
+func TestCRDNonGoProjectCustom(t *testing.T) {
 	s, buf := setupScaffoldAndWriter()
 	s.Fs = afero.NewMemMapFs()
 
@@ -142,7 +190,7 @@ func TestCRDNonGoProject(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 
 	path := filepath.Join(cfg.AbsProjectPath, i.Path)
-	err = afero.WriteFile(s.Fs, path, []byte(crdNonGoExp), fileutil.DefaultFileMode)
+	err = afero.WriteFile(s.Fs, path, []byte(crdNonGoCustomExp), fileutil.DefaultFileMode)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
@@ -151,16 +199,16 @@ func TestCRDNonGoProject(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("Failed to execute the scaffold: (%v)", err)
 	}
 
-	if crdNonGoExp != buf.String() {
-		diffs := diffutil.Diff(crdNonGoExp, buf.String())
+	if crdNonGoCustomExp != buf.String() {
+		diffs := diffutil.Diff(crdNonGoCustomExp, buf.String())
 		t.Fatalf("Expected vs actual differs.\n%v", diffs)
 	}
 }
 
-// crdNonGoExp contains a simple validation block to make sure manually-added
+// crdNonGoCustomExp contains a simple validation block to make sure manually-added
 // validation is not overwritten. Non-go projects don't have the luxury of
 // kubebuilder annotations.
-const crdNonGoExp = `apiVersion: apiextensions.k8s.io/v1beta1
+const crdNonGoCustomExp = `apiVersion: apiextensions.k8s.io/v1beta1
 kind: CustomResourceDefinition
 metadata:
   name: appservices.app.example.com