diff --git a/src/gt4py/cartesian/gtc/dace/nodes.py b/src/gt4py/cartesian/gtc/dace/nodes.py
index 42221d75c0..926265b2c7 100644
--- a/src/gt4py/cartesian/gtc/dace/nodes.py
+++ b/src/gt4py/cartesian/gtc/dace/nodes.py
@@ -50,9 +50,17 @@ def to_json(self, obj):
 
     @classmethod
     def from_json(cls, d, sdfg=None):
-        b64string = d["pickle"]
-        byte_repr = base64.b64decode(b64string)
-        return pickle.loads(byte_repr)
+        # DaCe won't serialize attr with default values by default
+        # which would lead the deserializer to push a default in the
+        # wrong format (non pickle).
+        # Best mitigation is to give back the object plain if it does
+        # not contain any pickling information
+        if isinstance(d, dict) and "pickle" in d.keys():
+            b64string = d["pickle"]
+            byte_repr = base64.b64decode(b64string)
+            return pickle.loads(byte_repr)
+
+        return d
 
 
 class PickledDataclassProperty(PickledProperty, dace.properties.DataclassProperty):
diff --git a/tests/cartesian_tests/integration_tests/multi_feature_tests/test_dace_parsing.py b/tests/cartesian_tests/integration_tests/multi_feature_tests/test_dace_parsing.py
index 7a793c0a70..9fafc27c85 100644
--- a/tests/cartesian_tests/integration_tests/multi_feature_tests/test_dace_parsing.py
+++ b/tests/cartesian_tests/integration_tests/multi_feature_tests/test_dace_parsing.py
@@ -46,8 +46,6 @@ def dace_env():
         dace.config.Config.set("compiler", "cpu", "args", value="")
         dace.config.Config.set("compiler", "allow_view_arguments", value=True)
         dace.config.Config.set("default_build_folder", value=str(gt_cache_path))
-        # Need to serialize `StencilComputation` library nodes because they contain OIR for `VerticalLoop`
-        dace.config.Config.set("testing", "serialize_all_fields", value=True)
         yield