diff --git a/gtk/gtkemojichooser.c b/gtk/gtkemojichooser.c
index 596c92e12f..9f1cb41244 100644
--- a/gtk/gtkemojichooser.c
+++ b/gtk/gtkemojichooser.c
@@ -343,6 +343,9 @@ add_emoji (GtkWidget    *box,
   char text[64];
   char *p = text;
   int i;
+  PangoLayout *layout;
+  PangoRectangle rect;
+  int width;
 
   codes = g_variant_get_child_value (item, 0);
   for (i = 0; i < g_variant_n_children (codes); i++)
@@ -358,12 +361,27 @@ add_emoji (GtkWidget    *box,
   g_variant_unref (codes);
   p[0] = 0;
 
-  label = gtk_label_new (text);
+  label = gtk_label_new ("🙂");
   attrs = pango_attr_list_new ();
   pango_attr_list_insert (attrs, pango_attr_scale_new (PANGO_SCALE_X_LARGE));
   gtk_label_set_attributes (GTK_LABEL (label), attrs);
   pango_attr_list_unref (attrs);
 
+  layout = gtk_label_get_layout (GTK_LABEL (label));
+  pango_layout_get_extents (layout, &rect, NULL);
+  width = rect.width;
+
+  gtk_label_set_text (GTK_LABEL (label), text);
+  layout = gtk_label_get_layout (GTK_LABEL (label));
+  pango_layout_get_extents (layout, &rect, NULL);
+
+  /* Check for fallback rendering that generates too wide items */
+  if (rect.width >= 2 * width)
+    {
+      gtk_widget_destroy (label);
+      return;
+    }
+
   child = gtk_flow_box_child_new ();
   gtk_style_context_add_class (gtk_widget_get_style_context (child), "emoji");
   g_object_set_data_full (G_OBJECT (child), "emoji-data",