diff --git a/examples/pipelineruns/conditional-pipelinerun.yaml b/examples/pipelineruns/conditional-pipelinerun.yaml
index dca8f52460d..3624bcd3637 100644
--- a/examples/pipelineruns/conditional-pipelinerun.yaml
+++ b/examples/pipelineruns/conditional-pipelinerun.yaml
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ metadata:
 spec:
   params:
     - name: "path"
-      type: string
   resources:
     - name: workspace
       type: git
diff --git a/examples/taskruns/steptemplate-env-merge.yaml b/examples/taskruns/steptemplate-env-merge.yaml
index 89b76b85bb7..77b1069f21e 100644
--- a/examples/taskruns/steptemplate-env-merge.yaml
+++ b/examples/taskruns/steptemplate-env-merge.yaml
@@ -19,14 +19,11 @@ spec:
       params:
       - name: FOO
         description: FOO variable
-        type: string
       - name: BAR
         description: BAR variable
-        type: string
       - name: FOOBAR
         description: FOOBAR variable
         default: foobar
-        type: string
     steps:
       # Test the environment variables are set in the task
       - name: foo
diff --git a/pkg/apis/pipeline/v1alpha1/taskrun_defaults.go b/pkg/apis/pipeline/v1alpha1/taskrun_defaults.go
index c9384b1d231..5a6de5d1b22 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/pipeline/v1alpha1/taskrun_defaults.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/pipeline/v1alpha1/taskrun_defaults.go
@@ -51,4 +51,9 @@ func (trs *TaskRunSpec) SetDefaults(ctx context.Context) {
 	if trs.ServiceAccountName == "" && defaultSA != "" {
 		trs.ServiceAccountName = defaultSA
 	}
+
+	// If this taskrun has an embedded task, apply the usual task defaults
+	if trs.TaskSpec != nil {
+		trs.TaskSpec.SetDefaults(ctx)
+	}
 }
diff --git a/pkg/apis/pipeline/v1alpha1/taskrun_defaults_test.go b/pkg/apis/pipeline/v1alpha1/taskrun_defaults_test.go
index b54753c2db0..04952310e9e 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/pipeline/v1alpha1/taskrun_defaults_test.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/pipeline/v1alpha1/taskrun_defaults_test.go
@@ -34,40 +34,58 @@ func TestTaskRunSpec_SetDefaults(t *testing.T) {
 		desc string
 		trs  *v1alpha1.TaskRunSpec
 		want *v1alpha1.TaskRunSpec
-	}{
-		{
-			desc: "taskref is nil",
-			trs: &v1alpha1.TaskRunSpec{
-				TaskRef: nil,
-				Timeout: &metav1.Duration{Duration: 500 * time.Millisecond},
-			},
-			want: &v1alpha1.TaskRunSpec{
-				TaskRef: nil,
-				Timeout: &metav1.Duration{Duration: 500 * time.Millisecond},
-			},
+	}{{
+		desc: "taskref is nil",
+		trs: &v1alpha1.TaskRunSpec{
+			TaskRef: nil,
+			Timeout: &metav1.Duration{Duration: 500 * time.Millisecond},
 		},
-		{
-			desc: "taskref kind is empty",
-			trs: &v1alpha1.TaskRunSpec{
-				TaskRef: &v1alpha1.TaskRef{},
-				Timeout: &metav1.Duration{Duration: 500 * time.Millisecond},
-			},
-			want: &v1alpha1.TaskRunSpec{
-				TaskRef: &v1alpha1.TaskRef{Kind: v1alpha1.NamespacedTaskKind},
-				Timeout: &metav1.Duration{Duration: 500 * time.Millisecond},
-			},
+		want: &v1alpha1.TaskRunSpec{
+			TaskRef: nil,
+			Timeout: &metav1.Duration{Duration: 500 * time.Millisecond},
+		},
+	}, {
+		desc: "taskref kind is empty",
+		trs: &v1alpha1.TaskRunSpec{
+			TaskRef: &v1alpha1.TaskRef{},
+			Timeout: &metav1.Duration{Duration: 500 * time.Millisecond},
+		},
+		want: &v1alpha1.TaskRunSpec{
+			TaskRef: &v1alpha1.TaskRef{Kind: v1alpha1.NamespacedTaskKind},
+			Timeout: &metav1.Duration{Duration: 500 * time.Millisecond},
+		},
+	}, {
+		desc: "timeout is nil",
+		trs: &v1alpha1.TaskRunSpec{
+			TaskRef: &v1alpha1.TaskRef{Kind: v1alpha1.ClusterTaskKind},
+		},
+		want: &v1alpha1.TaskRunSpec{
+			TaskRef: &v1alpha1.TaskRef{Kind: v1alpha1.ClusterTaskKind},
+			Timeout: &metav1.Duration{Duration: config.DefaultTimeoutMinutes * time.Minute},
 		},
-		{
-			desc: "timeout is nil",
-			trs: &v1alpha1.TaskRunSpec{
-				TaskRef: &v1alpha1.TaskRef{Kind: v1alpha1.ClusterTaskKind},
+	}, {
+		desc: "embedded taskSpec",
+		trs: &v1alpha1.TaskRunSpec{
+			TaskSpec: &v1alpha1.TaskSpec{
+				Inputs: &v1alpha1.Inputs{
+					Params: []v1alpha1.ParamSpec{{
+						Name: "param-name",
+					}},
+				},
 			},
-			want: &v1alpha1.TaskRunSpec{
-				TaskRef: &v1alpha1.TaskRef{Kind: v1alpha1.ClusterTaskKind},
-				Timeout: &metav1.Duration{Duration: config.DefaultTimeoutMinutes * time.Minute},
+		},
+		want: &v1alpha1.TaskRunSpec{
+			TaskSpec: &v1alpha1.TaskSpec{
+				Inputs: &v1alpha1.Inputs{
+					Params: []v1alpha1.ParamSpec{{
+						Name: "param-name",
+						Type: v1alpha1.ParamTypeString,
+					}},
+				},
 			},
+			Timeout: &metav1.Duration{Duration: config.DefaultTimeoutMinutes * time.Minute},
 		},
-	}
+	}}
 	for _, tc := range cases {
 		t.Run(tc.desc, func(t *testing.T) {
 			ctx := context.Background()