diff --git a/src/Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Http.Parsing/Parsing/DynamicExpressionUtilities.cs b/src/Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Http.Parsing/Parsing/DynamicExpressionUtilities.cs
index bef237d347..01c9e16571 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Http.Parsing/Parsing/DynamicExpressionUtilities.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Http.Parsing/Parsing/DynamicExpressionUtilities.cs
@@ -168,6 +168,8 @@ private static DateTimeOffset DefaultGetDateTimeOffset(bool isLocal)
                 var formatProvider = Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture;
                 var type = match.Groups["type"];
 
+                string? text = null;
+
                 // $datetime and $localDatetime MUST have either rfc1123, iso8601 or some other parameter.
                 // $datetime or $localDatetime alone should result in a binding error.
                 if (type is not null && !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(type.Value))
@@ -179,10 +181,16 @@ private static DateTimeOffset DefaultGetDateTimeOffset(bool isLocal)
                         // we should explicitly set the format provider to invariant culture
                         formatProvider = CultureInfo.InvariantCulture;
                         format = "r";
+
                     }
                     else if (string.Equals(type.Value, "iso8601", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
                     {
                         format = "o";
+                        if (currentDateTimeOffset.Offset.TotalMinutes == 0)
+                        {
+                            // for $datetime, format the DateTime in order to eliminate the +00:00 offset and use Z
+                            text = currentDateTimeOffset.UtcDateTime.ToString(format, formatProvider);
+                        }
                     }
                     else
                     {
@@ -192,7 +200,11 @@ private static DateTimeOffset DefaultGetDateTimeOffset(bool isLocal)
 
                     try
                     {
-                        string text = currentDateTimeOffset.ToString(format, formatProvider);
+                        if(text is null)
+                        {
+                            text = currentDateTimeOffset.ToString(format, formatProvider);
+                        }
+                        
                         return node.CreateBindingSuccess(text);
                     }
                     catch (FormatException)
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Http.Tests/ParserTests.DynamicExpressions.cs b/src/Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Http.Tests/ParserTests.DynamicExpressions.cs
index 100c5ae798..5b81fb3875 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Http.Tests/ParserTests.DynamicExpressions.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.DotNet.Interactive.Http.Tests/ParserTests.DynamicExpressions.cs
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ public void can_bind_datetime_with_iso8601_format()
             var code = $@"@var = {{{{{expression}}}}}""";
 
             var result = HttpRequestParser.Parse(code);
-            var currentTime = DateTimeOffset.UtcNow;
+            var currentTime = DateTimeOffset.UtcNow.UtcDateTime;
             var node = result.SyntaxTree.RootNode.DescendantNodesAndTokens().OfType<HttpExpressionNode>().Single();
 
             var binding = DynamicExpressionUtilities.ResolveExpressionBinding(node, () => currentTime, expression);
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ public void can_bind_datetime_with_iso8601_format_with_offset()
             var code = $@"@var = {{{{{expression}}}}}""";
 
             var result = HttpRequestParser.Parse(code);
-            var currentTime = DateTimeOffset.UtcNow;
+            var currentTime = DateTimeOffset.UtcNow.UtcDateTime;
             var node = result.SyntaxTree.RootNode.DescendantNodesAndTokens().OfType<HttpExpressionNode>().Single();
 
             var binding = DynamicExpressionUtilities.ResolveExpressionBinding(node, () => currentTime, expression);
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ public void can_bind_local_datetime_with_iso8601_format()
             var code = $@"@var = {{{{{expression}}}}}""";
 
             var result = HttpRequestParser.Parse(code);
-            var currentTime = DateTimeOffset.Now;
+            var currentTime = DateTimeOffset.UtcNow.UtcDateTime;
             var node = result.SyntaxTree.RootNode.DescendantNodesAndTokens().OfType<HttpExpressionNode>().Single();
 
             var binding = DynamicExpressionUtilities.ResolveExpressionBinding(node, () => currentTime, expression);
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ public void can_bind_local_datetime_with_iso8601_format_with_offset()
             var code = $@"@var = {{{{{expression}}}}}""";
 
             var result = HttpRequestParser.Parse(code);
-            var currentTime = DateTimeOffset.Now;
+            var currentTime = DateTimeOffset.UtcNow.UtcDateTime;
             var node = result.SyntaxTree.RootNode.DescendantNodesAndTokens().OfType<HttpExpressionNode>().Single();
 
             var binding = DynamicExpressionUtilities.ResolveExpressionBinding(node, () => currentTime, expression);