diff --git a/lib/internal/http2/util.js b/lib/internal/http2/util.js
index 2426a409cfc6cf..013642d40d1286 100644
--- a/lib/internal/http2/util.js
+++ b/lib/internal/http2/util.js
@@ -403,13 +403,14 @@ function mapToHeaders(map,
     if (typeof key === 'symbol' || value === undefined || !key)
       continue;
     key = String(key).toLowerCase();
-    const isArray = Array.isArray(value);
+    let isArray = Array.isArray(value);
     if (isArray) {
       switch (value.length) {
         case 0:
           continue;
         case 1:
           value = String(value[0]);
+          isArray = false;
           break;
         default:
           if (kSingleValueHeaders.has(key))
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-http2-util-headers-list.js b/test/parallel/test-http2-util-headers-list.js
index 1884a22894d280..f5e202538502eb 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-http2-util-headers-list.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-http2-util-headers-list.js
@@ -154,6 +154,18 @@ const {
   );
 }
 
+{
+  // Arrays containing a single set-cookie value are handled correctly
+  // (https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/16452)
+  const headers = {
+    'set-cookie': 'foo=bar'
+  };
+  assert.deepStrictEqual(
+    mapToHeaders(headers),
+    [ [ 'set-cookie', 'foo=bar', '' ].join('\0'), 1 ]
+  );
+}
+
 // The following are not allowed to have multiple values
 [
   HTTP2_HEADER_STATUS,