diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/nxos_acl_28.yaml b/changelogs/fragments/nxos_acl_28.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4ef9bf30f7d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/nxos_acl_28.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+- nxos_acl some platforms/versions raise when no ACLs are present (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/55609).
diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/network/nxos/nxos_acl.py b/lib/ansible/modules/network/nxos/nxos_acl.py
index a2446a7c10f..17c2f81c0c5 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/network/nxos/nxos_acl.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/network/nxos/nxos_acl.py
@@ -175,10 +175,10 @@ from ansible.module_utils.network.nxos.nxos import nxos_argument_spec, check_arg
 from ansible.module_utils.basic import AnsibleModule
 
 
-def execute_show_command(command, module):
+def execute_show_command(command, module, check_rc=True):
     command += ' | json'
     cmds = [command]
-    body = run_commands(module, cmds)
+    body = run_commands(module, cmds, check_rc=check_rc)
     return body
 
 
@@ -188,9 +188,13 @@ def get_acl(module, acl_name, seq_number):
     saveme = {}
     acl_body = {}
 
-    body = execute_show_command(command, module)[0]
-    if body:
-        all_acl_body = body['TABLE_ip_ipv6_mac']['ROW_ip_ipv6_mac']
+    body = execute_show_command(command, module, check_rc=False)
+    if 'Structured output unsupported' in repr(body):
+        # Some older versions raise 501 and return a string when no ACLs exist
+        return {}, []
+
+    if body and body[0]:
+        all_acl_body = body[0]['TABLE_ip_ipv6_mac']['ROW_ip_ipv6_mac']
     else:
         # no access-lists configured on the device
         return {}, []
@@ -505,7 +509,7 @@ def main():
         if existing_core:
             commands.append(['no {0}'.format(seq)])
     elif state == 'delete_acl':
-        if acl[0].get('acl') != 'no_entries':
+        if acl and acl[0].get('acl') != 'no_entries':
             commands.append(['no ip access-list {0}'.format(name)])
 
     cmds = []
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/nxos_acl/tests/common/sanity.yaml b/test/integration/targets/nxos_acl/tests/common/sanity.yaml
index 432e53f67ff..ed7cb4f5f88 100644
--- a/test/integration/targets/nxos_acl/tests/common/sanity.yaml
+++ b/test/integration/targets/nxos_acl/tests/common/sanity.yaml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
   when: ansible_connection == "local"
 
 - set_fact: time_range="ans-range"
-  when: not (platform is match("N5K")) and not (platform is match("N35"))
+  when: platform is not search('N35|N5K|N6K')
 
 - name: "Setup: Cleanup possibly existing acl."
   nxos_acl: &remove