diff --git a/core/modules/serialization/serialization.services.yml b/core/modules/serialization/serialization.services.yml
index 0eb4e23627fa83212485a0d48d619ec732b7c59c..c510ab16190695ecb9d76b5a24a384dbf8aea5e9 100644
--- a/core/modules/serialization/serialization.services.yml
+++ b/core/modules/serialization/serialization.services.yml
@@ -24,7 +24,10 @@ services:
   serializer.normalizer.entity_reference_field_item:
     class: Drupal\serialization\Normalizer\EntityReferenceFieldItemNormalizer
     tags:
-      - { name: normalizer, priority: 10 }
+      # Set the priority lower than the hal entity reference field item
+      # normalizer, so that we do not replace that for hal_json.
+      # @todo Find a better way for this in https://www.drupal.org/node/2575761.
+      - { name: normalizer, priority: 5 }
   serializer.normalizer.list:
     class: Drupal\serialization\Normalizer\ListNormalizer
     tags: