diff --git a/providers/nvidia_nim/client.py b/providers/nvidia_nim/client.py
index 6adba75..78acc7a 100644
--- a/providers/nvidia_nim/client.py
+++ b/providers/nvidia_nim/client.py
@@ -10,7 +10,11 @@ from config.nim import NimSettings
 from providers.base import ProviderConfig
 from providers.openai_compat import OpenAICompatibleProvider
 
-from .request import build_request_body, clone_body_without_reasoning_budget
+from .request import (
+    build_request_body,
+    clone_body_without_chat_template,
+    clone_body_without_reasoning_budget,
+)
 
 NVIDIA_NIM_BASE_URL = "https://integrate.api.nvidia.com/v1"
 
@@ -36,7 +40,7 @@ class NvidiaNimProvider(OpenAICompatibleProvider):
         )
 
     def _get_retry_request_body(self, error: Exception, body: dict) -> dict | None:
-        """Retry once without reasoning_budget when NIM rejects that field."""
+        """Retry once with a downgraded body when NIM rejects a known field."""
         status_code = getattr(error, "status_code", None)
         if not isinstance(error, openai.BadRequestError) and status_code != 400:
             return None
@@ -45,12 +49,22 @@ class NvidiaNimProvider(OpenAICompatibleProvider):
         error_body = getattr(error, "body", None)
         if error_body is not None:
             error_text = f"{error_text} {json.dumps(error_body, default=str)}"
-        if "reasoning_budget" not in error_text.lower():
-            return None
+        error_text = error_text.lower()
 
-        retry_body = clone_body_without_reasoning_budget(body)
-        if retry_body is None:
-            return None
+        if "reasoning_budget" in error_text:
+            retry_body = clone_body_without_reasoning_budget(body)
+            if retry_body is None:
+                return None
+            logger.warning(
+                "NIM_STREAM: retrying without reasoning_budget after 400 error"
+            )
+            return retry_body
 
-        logger.warning("NIM_STREAM: retrying without reasoning_budget after 400 error")
-        return retry_body
+        if "chat_template" in error_text:
+            retry_body = clone_body_without_chat_template(body)
+            if retry_body is None:
+                return None
+            logger.warning("NIM_STREAM: retrying without chat_template after 400 error")
+            return retry_body
+
+        return None
diff --git a/providers/nvidia_nim/request.py b/providers/nvidia_nim/request.py
index 41d480e..0c2f26d 100644
--- a/providers/nvidia_nim/request.py
+++ b/providers/nvidia_nim/request.py
@@ -47,6 +47,22 @@ def clone_body_without_reasoning_budget(body: dict[str, Any]) -> dict[str, Any]
     return cloned_body
 
 
+def clone_body_without_chat_template(body: dict[str, Any]) -> dict[str, Any] | None:
+    """Clone a request body and strip only chat_template."""
+    cloned_body = deepcopy(body)
+    extra_body = cloned_body.get("extra_body")
+    if not isinstance(extra_body, dict):
+        return None
+
+    if extra_body.pop("chat_template", None) is None:
+        return None
+
+    if not extra_body:
+        cloned_body.pop("extra_body", None)
+
+    return cloned_body
+
+
 def build_request_body(
     request_data: Any, nim: NimSettings, *, thinking_enabled: bool
 ) -> dict:
diff --git a/tests/providers/test_nvidia_nim.py b/tests/providers/test_nvidia_nim.py
index d8875ab..41d1e38 100644
--- a/tests/providers/test_nvidia_nim.py
+++ b/tests/providers/test_nvidia_nim.py
@@ -39,6 +39,15 @@ class MockRequest:
             setattr(self, k, v)
 
 
+def _make_bad_request_error(message: str) -> openai.BadRequestError:
+    response = Response(
+        status_code=400,
+        request=Request("POST", "https://integrate.api.nvidia.com/v1/chat/completions"),
+    )
+    body = {"error": {"message": message, "type": "BadRequestError", "code": 400}}
+    return openai.BadRequestError(message, response=response, body=body)
+
+
 @pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
 def mock_rate_limiter():
     """Mock the global rate limiter to prevent waiting."""
@@ -268,10 +277,86 @@ async def test_stream_response_suppresses_thinking_when_disabled(provider_config
     assert "Answer" in event_text
 
 
-def _make_bad_request_error(message: str) -> openai.BadRequestError:
-    response = Response(status_code=400, request=Request("POST", "http://test"))
-    body = {"error": {"message": message}}
-    return openai.BadRequestError(message, response=response, body=body)
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_stream_response_retries_without_chat_template(provider_config):
+    from config.nim import NimSettings
+
+    provider = NvidiaNimProvider(
+        provider_config,
+        nim_settings=NimSettings(chat_template="custom_template"),
+    )
+    req = MockRequest(model="mistralai/mixtral-8x7b-instruct-v0.1")
+
+    mock_chunk = MagicMock()
+    mock_chunk.choices = [
+        MagicMock(
+            delta=MagicMock(content="OK", reasoning_content=""),
+            finish_reason="stop",
+        )
+    ]
+    mock_chunk.usage = MagicMock(completion_tokens=2)
+
+    async def mock_stream():
+        yield mock_chunk
+
+    first_error = _make_bad_request_error(
+        "chat_template is not supported for Mistral tokenizers."
+    )
+
+    with patch.object(
+        provider._client.chat.completions, "create", new_callable=AsyncMock
+    ) as mock_create:
+        mock_create.side_effect = [first_error, mock_stream()]
+
+        events = [e async for e in provider.stream_response(req)]
+
+    assert mock_create.await_count == 2
+
+    first_extra = mock_create.call_args_list[0].kwargs["extra_body"]
+    second_extra = mock_create.call_args_list[1].kwargs["extra_body"]
+
+    assert first_extra["chat_template"] == "custom_template"
+    assert first_extra["chat_template_kwargs"] == {
+        "thinking": True,
+        "enable_thinking": True,
+        "reasoning_budget": 100,
+    }
+    assert "reasoning_budget" not in first_extra
+
+    assert "chat_template" not in second_extra
+    assert second_extra["chat_template_kwargs"] == {
+        "thinking": True,
+        "enable_thinking": True,
+        "reasoning_budget": 100,
+    }
+    assert "reasoning_budget" not in second_extra
+
+    event_text = "".join(events)
+    assert "event: error" not in event_text
+    assert "OK" in event_text
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_stream_response_does_not_retry_unrelated_bad_request(provider_config):
+    from config.nim import NimSettings
+
+    provider = NvidiaNimProvider(
+        provider_config,
+        nim_settings=NimSettings(chat_template="custom_template"),
+    )
+    req = MockRequest(model="mistralai/mixtral-8x7b-instruct-v0.1")
+
+    with patch.object(
+        provider._client.chat.completions, "create", new_callable=AsyncMock
+    ) as mock_create:
+        mock_create.side_effect = _make_bad_request_error("unrelated bad request")
+
+        events = [e async for e in provider.stream_response(req)]
+
+    assert mock_create.await_count == 1
+    event_text = "".join(events)
+    assert "unrelated bad request" in event_text
+    assert "event: message_stop" in event_text
 
 
 @pytest.mark.asyncio
diff --git a/tests/providers/test_nvidia_nim_request.py b/tests/providers/test_nvidia_nim_request.py
index 2dd040f..e4b9953 100644
--- a/tests/providers/test_nvidia_nim_request.py
+++ b/tests/providers/test_nvidia_nim_request.py
@@ -6,7 +6,11 @@ import pytest
 
 from config.nim import NimSettings
 from providers.common.utils import set_if_not_none
-from providers.nvidia_nim.request import _set_extra, build_request_body
+from providers.nvidia_nim.request import (
+    _set_extra,
+    build_request_body,
+    clone_body_without_chat_template,
+)
 
 
 @pytest.fixture
@@ -105,6 +109,32 @@ class TestBuildRequestBody:
         }
         assert "reasoning_budget" not in extra
 
+    def test_clone_body_without_chat_template(self):
+        body = {
+            "model": "test",
+            "extra_body": {
+                "chat_template": "custom_template",
+                "chat_template_kwargs": {
+                    "thinking": True,
+                    "enable_thinking": True,
+                    "reasoning_budget": 100,
+                },
+                "ignore_eos": False,
+            },
+        }
+
+        cloned = clone_body_without_chat_template(body)
+
+        assert cloned is not None
+        assert "chat_template" not in cloned["extra_body"]
+        assert cloned["extra_body"]["chat_template_kwargs"] == {
+            "thinking": True,
+            "enable_thinking": True,
+            "reasoning_budget": 100,
+        }
+        assert cloned["extra_body"]["ignore_eos"] is False
+        assert body["extra_body"]["chat_template"] == "custom_template"
+
     def test_no_chat_template_kwargs_when_thinking_disabled(self):
         req = MagicMock()
         req.model = "test"
@@ -148,6 +178,30 @@ class TestBuildRequestBody:
             "reasoning_budget": body["max_tokens"],
         }
 
+    def test_chat_template_fields_present_for_mistral_model(self):
+        req = MagicMock()
+        req.model = "mistralai/mixtral-8x7b-instruct-v0.1"
+        req.messages = [MagicMock(role="user", content="hi")]
+        req.max_tokens = 100
+        req.system = None
+        req.temperature = None
+        req.top_p = None
+        req.stop_sequences = None
+        req.tools = None
+        req.tool_choice = None
+        req.extra_body = None
+        req.top_k = None
+
+        nim = NimSettings(chat_template="custom_template")
+        body = build_request_body(req, nim, thinking_enabled=True)
+        extra = body.get("extra_body", {})
+        assert extra["chat_template_kwargs"] == {
+            "thinking": True,
+            "enable_thinking": True,
+            "reasoning_budget": body["max_tokens"],
+        }
+        assert extra["chat_template"] == "custom_template"
+
     def test_no_reasoning_params_in_extra_body(self):
         req = MagicMock()
         req.model = "test"