diff --git a/templates/README.mustache b/templates/README.mustache
index 41184c03..a7263c5f 100644
--- a/templates/README.mustache
+++ b/templates/README.mustache
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 {{/badges.consumer}}
 {{#documentation.usage}}
 
-{{documentation.usage}}
+{{{documentation.usage}}}
 {{/documentation.usage}}
 
 {{#documentation.contributing}}
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
 {{/badges.contribution}}
 {{#documentation.contributing}}
 
-{{documentation.contributing}}
+{{{documentation.contributing}}}
 {{/documentation.contributing}}
 
 {{#references}}
diff --git a/test/unit/readme-test.js b/test/unit/readme-test.js
index b57b6d19..b6fa2ff8 100644
--- a/test/unit/readme-test.js
+++ b/test/unit/readme-test.js
@@ -100,8 +100,10 @@ ${buildBadgeGroup(contributionBadges).join('\n')}
   });
 
   suite('documentation', () => {
+    const markdownWithBackticksAndForwardSlashes = `\`\`\`sh${any.sentence()}\`\`\`https://any.url`;
+
     test('that usage docs are shown after the contributing badges', async () => {
-      const usageDocs = any.sentence();
+      const usageDocs = markdownWithBackticksAndForwardSlashes;
 
       await scaffoldReadme({
         projectRoot,
@@ -130,7 +132,7 @@ ${buildBadgeGroup(contributionBadges).join('\n')}
     });
 
     test('that contribution docs are shown after the contributing badges', async () => {
-      const contributingDocs = any.sentence();
+      const contributingDocs = markdownWithBackticksAndForwardSlashes;
 
       await scaffoldReadme({
         projectRoot,