diff --git a/modules/lib/zsh.nix b/modules/lib/zsh.nix
index 55fafc500..4cce0adb5 100644
--- a/modules/lib/zsh.nix
+++ b/modules/lib/zsh.nix
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ rec {
     if builtins.isBool v then
       if v then "true" else "false"
     else if builtins.isString v then
-      ''"${v}"''
+      ''"${lib.escape [ "\\" "\"" "`" ] v}"''
     else if builtins.isList v then
       let
         shell = import ./shell.nix { inherit lib; };
diff --git a/tests/modules/programs/zsh/zshrc-content-priorities.nix b/tests/modules/programs/zsh/zshrc-content-priorities.nix
index 6c87e602e..f160c7713 100644
--- a/tests/modules/programs/zsh/zshrc-content-priorities.nix
+++ b/tests/modules/programs/zsh/zshrc-content-priorities.nix
@@ -14,6 +14,11 @@
       home = "$HOME/Documents";
       quoted = ''/tmp/with "quotes"'';
     };
+    localVariables = {
+      BACKTICK = "`literal`";
+      QUOTED = ''value "quoted"'';
+      RUNTIME = "$HOME/bin";
+    };
 
     initContent = lib.mkMerge [
       (lib.mkBefore ''
@@ -54,6 +59,9 @@
 
           HELPDIR="@zsh@/share/zsh/$ZSH_VERSION/help"
 
+          BACKTICK="\`literal\`"
+          QUOTED="value \"quoted\""
+          RUNTIME="$HOME/bin"
           autoload -U compinit && compinit
           # History options should be set in .zshrc and after oh-my-zsh sourcing.
           # See https://github.com/nix-community/home-manager/issues/177.