diff --git a/R/tidy_glmnet.R b/R/tidy_glmnet.R
index 55dd8e232..c9ae65c4c 100644
--- a/R/tidy_glmnet.R
+++ b/R/tidy_glmnet.R
@@ -58,6 +58,9 @@ get_glmn_coefs <- function(x, penalty = 0.01) {
 tidy_glmnet <- function(x, penalty = NULL, ..., call = caller_env()) {
   check_installs(x$spec)
   load_libs(x$spec, quiet = TRUE, attach = TRUE)
+  if (is.null(penalty)) {
+    penalty <- x$spec$args$penalty
+  }
   check_number_decimal(penalty, min = 0, max = 1, allow_null = TRUE, call = call)
   get_glmn_coefs(x$fit, penalty = penalty)
 }