diff --git a/news/changelog-1.7.md b/news/changelog-1.7.md
index 2071de93890..697df9bc858 100644
--- a/news/changelog-1.7.md
+++ b/news/changelog-1.7.md
@@ -64,7 +64,11 @@ All changes included in 1.7:
 
 ## Formats
 
-## `html`
+### `dashboard`
+
+- ([#11338](https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/issues/11338)): Remove unused datatables imports when appropriate.
+
+### `html`
 
 - ([#1325](https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/issues/1325)): Dark Mode pages should not flash light on reload. (Nor should Light Mode pages flash dark.)
 - ([#1470](https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/issues/1470)): `respect-user-color-scheme` enables checking the media query `prefers-color-scheme` for user dark mode preference. Author preference still influences stylesheet order and NoJS experience. Defaults to `false`, leaving to author preference.
@@ -76,7 +80,7 @@ All changes included in 1.7:
 - ([#12319](https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/pull/12319)): Provide switchable light and dark brands for a page with `brand.light` and `brand.dark`.
 - ([#12356](https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/issues/12356)): Remove duplicate id in HTML document when using `#lst-` prefix label for using Quarto crossref.
 
-## `pdf`
+### `pdf`
 
 - ([#11835](https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/issues/11835)): Take markdown structure into account when detecting minimum heading level.
 - ([#11878](https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/issues/11878), [#12085](https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/issues/12085)): Correctly fixup raw LaTeX table having an unexpected table env with options (e.g `\begin{table}[!ht]`) to be handled as crossref table.
@@ -92,16 +96,16 @@ All changes included in 1.7:
     - New Quarto partials: `babel-lang.tex`, `biblio-config.tex`. Quarto's partials uses `.tex` extension.
   - BREAKING CHANGE for templates authors: `common.latex` does now uses `pandoc.tex` partial from Quarto, which include now part of the content that was in main `template.tex`. If you modify `pandoc.tex` as part of a custom format, it should be updated to new content.
 
-## `jats`
+### `jats`
 
 - Update to Pandoc's template following Pandoc 3.6.3 support:
   - `article.jats_publishing` partials now support `author.roles`
 
-## `revealjs`
+### `revealjs`
 
 - ([#12307](https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/issues/12307)): Tabsets using `tabby.js` in Revealjs now correctly render reactive content when `server: shiny` is used.
 
-## `typst` format
+### `typst` format
 
 - ([#11578](https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/issues/11578)): Typst column layout widths use fractional `fr` units instead of percent `%` units for unitless and default widths in order to fill the enclosing block and not spill outside it.
 - ([#11676](https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/pull/11676)): Convert unitless image widths from pixels to inches for column layouts.
diff --git a/src/format/dashboard/format-dashboard-tables.ts b/src/format/dashboard/format-dashboard-tables.ts
index ca0f3c6a71b..73057db298b 100644
--- a/src/format/dashboard/format-dashboard-tables.ts
+++ b/src/format/dashboard/format-dashboard-tables.ts
@@ -35,6 +35,9 @@ export function processDatatables(
   const scriptNodes = doc.querySelectorAll(
     ".cell-output script[type='module']",
   );
+
+  let keepDeps = false;
+
   for (const scriptNode of scriptNodes) {
     const scriptEl = scriptNode as Element;
     const code = scriptEl.innerText;
@@ -57,6 +60,7 @@ export function processDatatables(
     }
 
     if (hasConnectedDt) {
+      keepDeps = true;
       // Replace the table initialization
       const codeText = codeFiltered.join("\n");
       // for iTables < 1.7, do fixups
@@ -82,21 +86,23 @@ export function processDatatables(
           linkCssEl.remove();
         }
       }
-
-      // We found tables, clear the DT sentinel attr
-      const dtNodes = doc.querySelectorAll(`[${kDTTableSentinel}="true"]`);
-      dtNodes.forEach((node) => {
-        (node as Element).removeAttribute(kDTTableSentinel);
-      });
-    } else {
-      // We didn't find any DT, remove the dependencies that we injected at the root level
-      const dtNodes = doc.querySelectorAll(`[${kDTTableSentinel}="true"]`);
-      dtNodes.forEach((node) => {
-        (node as Element).remove();
-      });
     }
   }
 
+  if (keepDeps) {
+    // We found tables, clear the DT sentinel attr
+    const dtNodes = doc.querySelectorAll(`[${kDTTableSentinel}="true"]`);
+    dtNodes.forEach((node) => {
+      (node as Element).removeAttribute(kDTTableSentinel);
+    });
+  } else {
+    // We didn't find any DT, remove the dependencies that we injected at the root level
+    const dtNodes = doc.querySelectorAll(`[${kDTTableSentinel}="true"]`);
+    dtNodes.forEach((node) => {
+      (node as Element).remove();
+    });
+  }
+
   return {
     resources,
     supporting,
diff --git a/src/format/dashboard/format-dashboard.ts b/src/format/dashboard/format-dashboard.ts
index a067d823daa..78543f3dc7e 100644
--- a/src/format/dashboard/format-dashboard.ts
+++ b/src/format/dashboard/format-dashboard.ts
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ import { ProjectContext } from "../../project/types.ts";
 import { registerWriterFormatHandler } from "../format-handlers.ts";
 import { kPageLayout, kPageLayoutCustom } from "../html/format-html-shared.ts";
 import { htmlFormat } from "../html/format-html.ts";
+import { kDTTableSentinel } from "./format-dashboard-shared.ts";
 
 import { join } from "../../deno_ral/path.ts";
 import {
@@ -199,7 +200,7 @@ export function dashboardFormat() {
             join("js", "dt", "datatables.min.js"),
           ),
           attribs: {
-            kDTTableSentinel: "true",
+            [kDTTableSentinel]: "true",
           },
         });
         stylesheets.push({
@@ -209,7 +210,7 @@ export function dashboardFormat() {
             join("js", "dt", "datatables.min.css"),
           ),
           attribs: {
-            kDTTableSentinel: "true",
+            [kDTTableSentinel]: "true",
           },
         });
         scripts.push({
@@ -219,7 +220,7 @@ export function dashboardFormat() {
             join("js", "dt", "pdfmake.min.js"),
           ),
           attribs: {
-            kDTTableSentinel: "true",
+            [kDTTableSentinel]: "true",
           },
         });
         scripts.push({
@@ -229,7 +230,7 @@ export function dashboardFormat() {
             join("js", "dt", "vfs_fonts.js"),
           ),
           attribs: {
-            kDTTableSentinel: "true",
+            [kDTTableSentinel]: "true",
           },
         });
 
diff --git a/tests/docs/smoke-all/2025/04/11/issue-11338.qmd b/tests/docs/smoke-all/2025/04/11/issue-11338.qmd
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2d2270535a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/docs/smoke-all/2025/04/11/issue-11338.qmd
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+---
+format: dashboard
+_quarto:
+  tests:
+    dashboard:
+      ensureFileRegexMatches:
+        - []
+        - ["kdttablesentinel"]
+---
\ No newline at end of file