diff --git a/lib/Mojolicious/Controller.pm b/lib/Mojolicious/Controller.pm
index 84f80b868e..f168157777 100644
--- a/lib/Mojolicious/Controller.pm
+++ b/lib/Mojolicious/Controller.pm
@@ -713,8 +713,8 @@ automatically discarded.
 Non-persistent data storage and exchange for the current request, application wide default values can be set with
 L<Mojolicious/"defaults">. Some stash values have a special meaning and are reserved, the full list is currently
 C<action>, C<app>, C<cb>, C<controller>, C<data>, C<extends>, C<format>, C<handler>, C<inline>, C<json>, C<layout>,
-C<namespace>, C<path>, C<status>, C<template>, C<text> and C<variant>. Note that all stash values with a C<mojo.*>
-prefix are reserved for internal use.
+C<namespace>, C<path>, C<status>, C<template>, C<template_path>, C<text> and C<variant>. Note that all stash values
+with a C<mojo.*> prefix are reserved for internal use.
 
   # Remove value
   my $foo = delete $c->stash->{foo};
diff --git a/lib/Mojolicious/Guides/Rendering.pod b/lib/Mojolicious/Guides/Rendering.pod
index 4e0a919bb0..e1e0362299 100644
--- a/lib/Mojolicious/Guides/Rendering.pod
+++ b/lib/Mojolicious/Guides/Rendering.pod
@@ -198,6 +198,11 @@ L<Mojolicious::Controller/"render_maybe"> to try multiple alternatives.
 
   $c->render_maybe('localized/baz') or $c->render('foo/bar/baz');
 
+If you want to render a template from a specific file not in a C<templates> directory, you can pass it with the
+C<template_path> option.
+
+  $c->render(template_path => '/path/to/the/template');
+
 =head2 Rendering to strings
 
 Sometimes you might want to use the rendered result directly instead of generating a response, for example, to send
diff --git a/lib/Mojolicious/Renderer.pm b/lib/Mojolicious/Renderer.pm
index 1e7dd70d1f..0dc3491b4f 100644
--- a/lib/Mojolicious/Renderer.pm
+++ b/lib/Mojolicious/Renderer.pm
@@ -83,10 +83,11 @@ sub render {
 
   my $stash   = $c->stash;
   my $options = {
-    encoding => $self->encoding,
-    handler  => $stash->{handler},
-    template => delete $stash->{template},
-    variant  => $stash->{variant}
+    encoding      => $self->encoding,
+    handler       => $stash->{handler},
+    template      => delete $stash->{template},
+    template_path => delete $stash->{template_path},
+    variant       => $stash->{variant}
   };
   my $inline = $options->{inline} = delete $stash->{inline};
   $options->{handler} //= $self->default_handler if defined $inline;
@@ -102,12 +103,13 @@ sub render {
   return encode_json(delete $stash->{json}), 'json' if exists $stash->{json};
 
   # Template or templateless handler
-  $options->{template} //= $self->template_for($c);
-  return () unless $self->_render_template($c, \my $output, $options);
+  $options->{template} //= $self->template_for($c) unless $options->{template_path};
+  return ()                                        unless $self->_render_template($c, \my $output, $options);
 
   # Inheritance
   my $content = $stash->{'mojo.content'} //= {};
   local $content->{content} = $output =~ /\S/ ? $output : undef if $stash->{extends} || $stash->{layout};
+  delete $options->{template_path};
   while ((my $next = _next($stash)) && !defined $inline) {
     @$options{qw(handler template)} = ($stash->{handler}, $next);
     $options->{format} = $stash->{format} || $self->default_format;
@@ -162,6 +164,7 @@ sub template_handler {
 sub template_name {
   my ($self, $options) = @_;
 
+  return $options->{template_path} if $options->{template_path};
   return undef unless defined(my $template = $options->{template});
   return undef unless my $format = $options->{format};
   $template .= ".$format";
@@ -181,6 +184,7 @@ sub template_name {
 
 sub template_path {
   my ($self, $options) = @_;
+  return $options->{template_path} if $options->{template_path};
   return undef unless my $name = $self->template_name($options);
   my @parts = split /\//, $name;
   -r and return $_ for map { path($_, @parts)->to_string } @{$self->paths}, $TEMPLATES;
@@ -434,7 +438,7 @@ handler could be found.
   });
 
 Return a template name for an options hash reference with C<template>, C<format>, C<variant> and C<handler> values, or
-C<undef> if no template could be found, usually used by handlers.
+C<undef> if no template could be found, usually used by handlers. If C<template_path> is passed then return it as-is.
 
 =head2 template_path
 
@@ -445,7 +449,8 @@ C<undef> if no template could be found, usually used by handlers.
   });
 
 Return the full template path for an options hash reference with C<template>, C<format>, C<variant> and C<handler>
-values, or C<undef> if the file does not exist in L</"paths">, usually used by handlers.
+values, or C<undef> if the file does not exist in L</"paths">, usually used by handlers. If C<template_path> is
+passed then return it as-is.
 
 =head2 warmup
 
diff --git a/t/mojolicious/layouted_lite_app.t b/t/mojolicious/layouted_lite_app.t
index 8756f96587..3cbda6edc6 100644
--- a/t/mojolicious/layouted_lite_app.t
+++ b/t/mojolicious/layouted_lite_app.t
@@ -107,6 +107,8 @@ get '/variants' => [format => ['txt']] => {layout => 'variants', format => undef
   $c->render('variants');
 };
 
+get '/specific_template' => {template_path => curfile->sibling('templates2')->child('42.html.ep')->to_string};
+
 my $t = Test::Mojo->new;
 
 subtest '"0" content reassignment' => sub {
@@ -282,6 +284,10 @@ subtest 'Variants ("0")' => sub {
     ->content_is('Another variant: Desktop!');
 };
 
+subtest 'Specific template path' => sub {
+  $t->get_ok('/specific_template')->status_is(200)->content_is("DefaultThe answer is 42.\n\n");
+};
+
 done_testing();
 
 __DATA__