diff --git a/internal/controller/api_vms.go b/internal/controller/api_vms.go
index ebd50d8..5c7a387 100644
--- a/internal/controller/api_vms.go
+++ b/internal/controller/api_vms.go
@@ -344,7 +344,9 @@ func (controller *Controller) listVMs(ctx *gin.Context) responder.Responder {
 		return responder.Code(http.StatusInternalServerError)
 	}
 
-	vms := make([]v1.VM, 0, len(allVMs))
+	// Declare an empty, non-nil slice to
+	// return [] when no objects are found
+	vms := []v1.VM{}
 
 Outer:
 	for _, vm := range allVMs {