diff --git a/charts/kong/CHANGELOG.md b/charts/kong/CHANGELOG.md
index 47ff4b7db..ef30d8fa8 100644
--- a/charts/kong/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/charts/kong/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -8,9 +8,11 @@
   [#917](https://github.com/Kong/charts/pull/917)
 * Added services resource to admission webhook config for KIC >= 3.0.0.
   [#919](https://github.com/Kong/charts/pull/919)
-* Update default ingress controller version to v3.0
+* Update default ingress controller version to v3.0.
   [#929](https://github.com/Kong/charts/pull/929)
   [#930](https://github.com/Kong/charts/pull/930)
+* Set default router flavor to `expressions` for KIC >= 3.0.0.
+  [#935](https://github.com/Kong/charts/pull/935)
 
 ### Fixed
 
diff --git a/charts/kong/templates/_helpers.tpl b/charts/kong/templates/_helpers.tpl
index bd2f83d5f..cac8c10b3 100644
--- a/charts/kong/templates/_helpers.tpl
+++ b/charts/kong/templates/_helpers.tpl
@@ -1144,6 +1144,7 @@ the template that it itself is using form the above sections.
 {{- end }}
 
 {{- $_ := set $autoEnv "KONG_PLUGINS" (include "kong.plugins" .) -}}
+{{- $_ := set $autoEnv "KONG_ROUTER_FLAVOR" (include "kong.router_flavor" .) -}}
 
 {{/*
     ====== USER-SET ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES ======
@@ -1710,3 +1711,15 @@ extensions/v1beta1
 {{- end -}}
 {{- (toYaml $proxyReadiness) -}}
 {{- end -}}
+
+{{- define "kong.router_flavor" -}}
+{{- if .Values.env.router_flavor -}}
+.Values.env.router_flavor
+{{- else -}}
+    {{- if (and  .Values.ingressController.enabled  (semverCompare ">= 3.0.0" (include "kong.effectiveVersion" .Values.ingressController.image))) -}}
+        expressions
+    {{- else -}}
+        traditional_compatible
+    {{- end -}}
+{{- end -}}
+{{- end -}}
diff --git a/charts/kong/values.yaml b/charts/kong/values.yaml
index 16dd2b5f2..79056f8f0 100644
--- a/charts/kong/values.yaml
+++ b/charts/kong/values.yaml
@@ -84,11 +84,6 @@ deployment:
 # is set below. In general, you should not set values here if they are set elsewhere.
 env:
   database: "off"
-  # the chart uses the traditional router (for Kong 3.x+) because the ingress
-  # controller generates traditional routes. if you do not use the controller,
-  # you may set this to "traditional_compatible" or "expressions" to use the new
-  # DSL-based router
-  router_flavor: "traditional"
   nginx_worker_processes: "2"
   proxy_access_log: /dev/stdout
   admin_access_log: /dev/stdout