diff --git a/.changeset/forty-cars-scream.md b/.changeset/forty-cars-scream.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..284acc3c44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/forty-cars-scream.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@backstage/plugin-scaffolder-react': patch
+---
+
+Allow defining default output text to be shown
diff --git a/plugins/scaffolder-react/api-report.md b/plugins/scaffolder-react/api-report.md
index 8589078f1e..078d4a7415 100644
--- a/plugins/scaffolder-react/api-report.md
+++ b/plugins/scaffolder-react/api-report.md
@@ -277,6 +277,7 @@ export type ScaffolderOutputText = {
   title?: string;
   icon?: string;
   content?: string;
+  default?: boolean;
 };
 
 // @public
diff --git a/plugins/scaffolder-react/src/api/types.ts b/plugins/scaffolder-react/src/api/types.ts
index 2adecdd0d2..fba198e515 100644
--- a/plugins/scaffolder-react/src/api/types.ts
+++ b/plugins/scaffolder-react/src/api/types.ts
@@ -89,6 +89,7 @@ export type ScaffolderOutputText = {
   title?: string;
   icon?: string;
   content?: string;
+  default?: boolean;
 };
 
 /** @public */
diff --git a/plugins/scaffolder-react/src/next/components/TemplateOutputs/DefaultTemplateOutputs.tsx b/plugins/scaffolder-react/src/next/components/TemplateOutputs/DefaultTemplateOutputs.tsx
index c105c5a571..d3811e5011 100644
--- a/plugins/scaffolder-react/src/next/components/TemplateOutputs/DefaultTemplateOutputs.tsx
+++ b/plugins/scaffolder-react/src/next/components/TemplateOutputs/DefaultTemplateOutputs.tsx
@@ -14,9 +14,12 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 import { InfoCard, MarkdownContent } from '@backstage/core-components';
-import { ScaffolderTaskOutput } from '@backstage/plugin-scaffolder-react';
+import {
+  ScaffolderOutputText,
+  ScaffolderTaskOutput,
+} from '@backstage/plugin-scaffolder-react';
 import { Box, Paper } from '@material-ui/core';
-import React, { useMemo, useState } from 'react';
+import React, { useEffect, useMemo, useState } from 'react';
 import { LinkOutputs } from './LinkOutputs';
 import { TextOutputs } from './TextOutputs';
 
@@ -30,9 +33,18 @@ export const DefaultTemplateOutputs = (props: {
 }) => {
   const { output } = props;
   const [textOutputIndex, setTextOutputIndex] = useState<number | undefined>(
-    output?.text?.length ? 0 : undefined,
+    undefined,
   );
 
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (textOutputIndex === undefined && output?.text) {
+      const defaultIndex = output.text.findIndex(
+        (t: ScaffolderOutputText) => t.default,
+      );
+      setTextOutputIndex(defaultIndex >= 0 ? defaultIndex : 0);
+    }
+  }, [textOutputIndex, output]);
+
   const textOutput = useMemo(
     () =>
       textOutputIndex !== undefined ? output?.text?.[textOutputIndex] : null,