diff --git a/ci/ci.sh b/ci/ci.sh
index a6952f72093b5..fc1afab003ced 100755
--- a/ci/ci.sh
+++ b/ci/ci.sh
@@ -743,10 +743,13 @@ build() {
 }
 
 run_minimal_test() {
+  EXPECTED_PYTHON_VERSION=$1
   BAZEL_EXPORT_OPTIONS="$(./ci/run/bazel_export_options)"
   # Ignoring shellcheck is necessary because if ${BAZEL_EXPORT_OPTIONS} is wrapped by the double quotation,
   # bazel test cannot recognize the option.
   # shellcheck disable=SC2086
+  bazel test --test_output=streamed --config=ci --test_env=RAY_MINIMAL=1 --test_env=EXPECTED_PYTHON_VERSION=$EXPECTED_PYTHON_VERSION ${BAZEL_EXPORT_OPTIONS} python/ray/tests/test_minimal_install
+  # shellcheck disable=SC2086
   bazel test --test_output=streamed --config=ci --test_env=RAY_MINIMAL=1 ${BAZEL_EXPORT_OPTIONS} python/ray/tests/test_basic
   # shellcheck disable=SC2086
   bazel test --test_output=streamed --config=ci --test_env=RAY_MINIMAL=1 --test_env=TEST_EXTERNAL_REDIS=1 ${BAZEL_EXPORT_OPTIONS} python/ray/tests/test_basic
@@ -787,7 +790,7 @@ test_minimal() {
   ./ci/env/install-minimal.sh "$1"
   echo "Installed minimal dependencies."
   ./ci/env/env_info.sh
-  python ./ci/env/check_minimal_install.py
+  python ./ci/env/check_minimal_install.py --expected-python-version "$1"
   run_minimal_test "$1"
 }
 
diff --git a/ci/env/check_minimal_install.py b/ci/env/check_minimal_install.py
index aa3d6a7f337cc..1d48f0a114ca5 100644
--- a/ci/env/check_minimal_install.py
+++ b/ci/env/check_minimal_install.py
@@ -4,9 +4,13 @@
 
 This is to ensure that tests with minimal dependencies are not tainted
 by too many installed packages.
+
+It also ensures the correct Python version.
 """
 
 from typing import List
+import argparse
+import sys
 
 # These are taken from `setup.py` for ray[default]
 DEFAULT_BLACKLIST = [
@@ -47,5 +51,28 @@ def assert_packages_not_installed(blacklist: List[str]):
     )
 
 
+def assert_python_version(expected_python_version: str) -> None:
+    actual_major, actual_minor = sys.version_info[:2]
+    actual_version = f"{actual_major}.{actual_minor}"
+    expected_version = expected_python_version.strip()
+    assert expected_version == actual_version, (
+        f"Expected Python version expected_version={expected_version}, "
+        f"actual_version={actual_version}"
+    )
+
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
+
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--expected-python-version",
+        type=str,
+        help="Expected Python version in MAJOR.MINOR format, e.g. 3.11",
+        default=None,
+    )
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+
     assert_packages_not_installed(DEFAULT_BLACKLIST)
+
+    if args.expected_python_version is not None:
+        assert_python_version(args.expected_python_version)
diff --git a/ci/env/install-minimal.sh b/ci/env/install-minimal.sh
index 045239badc485..949da63c92d88 100755
--- a/ci/env/install-minimal.sh
+++ b/ci/env/install-minimal.sh
@@ -1,11 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
-if [ "$1" == "3.11" ]; then
-    # TODO: fix build wheels unsupported tags in the future
-    echo "'set -xe' not working for Python 3.11"
-else
-    set -xe
-fi
+set -xe
 
 # Python version can be specified as 3.7, 3.8, 3.9, etc..
 if [ -z "$1" ]; then
@@ -32,7 +27,7 @@ echo "Python version is ${PYTHON_VERSION}"
 ROOT_DIR=$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/$(dirname "$(test -L "$0" && readlink "$0" || echo "/")")" || exit; pwd)
 WORKSPACE_DIR="${ROOT_DIR}/../.."
 
-# Installs conda and python 3.7
+# Installs conda and the specified python version
 MINIMAL_INSTALL=1 PYTHON=${PYTHON_VERSION} "${WORKSPACE_DIR}/ci/env/install-dependencies.sh"
 
 # Re-install Ray wheels
diff --git a/python/ray/tests/BUILD b/python/ray/tests/BUILD
index 4aade4624351e..f9645040beb89 100644
--- a/python/ray/tests/BUILD
+++ b/python/ray/tests/BUILD
@@ -199,6 +199,7 @@ py_test_module_list(
     "test_metrics_agent_2.py",
     "test_microbenchmarks.py",
     "test_mini.py",
+    "test_minimal_install.py",
     "test_numba.py",
     "test_redis_tls.py",
     "test_raylet_output.py",
diff --git a/python/ray/tests/test_minimal_install.py b/python/ray/tests/test_minimal_install.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..a52207c876465
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/ray/tests/test_minimal_install.py
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+# coding: utf-8
+"""
+Tests that are specific to minimal installations.
+"""
+
+import pytest
+import os
+import sys
+
+
+@pytest.mark.skipif(
+    os.environ.get("RAY_MINIMAL", "0") != "1",
+    reason="Skip unless running in a minimal install.",
+)
+def test_correct_python_version():
+    """
+    Validate that Bazel uses the correct Python version in our minimal tests.
+    """
+    expected_python_version = os.environ.get("EXPECTED_PYTHON_VERSION", "").strip()
+    assert (
+        expected_python_version
+    ), f"EXPECTED_PYTHON_VERSION is {expected_python_version}"
+
+    actual_major, actual_minor = sys.version_info[:2]
+    actual_version = f"{actual_major}.{actual_minor}"
+    assert actual_version == expected_python_version, (
+        f"expected_python_version={expected_python_version}"
+        f"actual_version={actual_version}"
+    )
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    if os.environ.get("PARALLEL_CI"):
+        sys.exit(pytest.main(["-n", "auto", "--boxed", "-vs", __file__]))
+    else:
+        sys.exit(pytest.main(["-sv", __file__]))