diff --git a/tests/templates/kuttl/smoke/60-install-hive.yaml.j2 b/tests/templates/kuttl/smoke/60-install-hive.yaml.j2
index 08af5f28..da89aff8 100644
--- a/tests/templates/kuttl/smoke/60-install-hive.yaml.j2
+++ b/tests/templates/kuttl/smoke/60-install-hive.yaml.j2
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ spec:
       ROLE_VAR: role-value   # only defined here at role level
     configOverrides:
       hive-env.sh:
+        HADOOP_HEAPSIZE: "512" # also set by the operator
         COMMON_VAR: role-value # overridden by role group below
         ROLE_VAR: role-value   # only defined here at role level
     roleGroups:
diff --git a/tests/templates/kuttl/smoke/61-assert.yaml b/tests/templates/kuttl/smoke/61-assert.yaml
index 326d53af..9dc3f626 100644
--- a/tests/templates/kuttl/smoke/61-assert.yaml
+++ b/tests/templates/kuttl/smoke/61-assert.yaml
@@ -17,3 +17,4 @@ commands:
       kubectl -n $NAMESPACE get cm hive-metastore-default -o yaml | yq -e '.data."hive-env.sh"' | grep "export ROLE_VAR=role-value"
       kubectl -n $NAMESPACE get cm hive-metastore-default -o yaml | yq -e '.data."hive-env.sh"' | grep "export GROUP_VAR=group-value"
       kubectl -n $NAMESPACE get cm hive-metastore-default -o yaml | yq -e '.data."hive-env.sh"' | grep "export COMMON_VAR=group-value"
+      kubectl -n $NAMESPACE get cm hive-metastore-default -o yaml | yq -e '.data."hive-env.sh"' | grep "export HADOOP_HEAPSIZE=512"