diff --git a/salt/returners/kafka_return.py b/salt/returners/kafka_return.py
index d0bcef44641b..474b4958c8f6 100644
--- a/salt/returners/kafka_return.py
+++ b/salt/returners/kafka_return.py
@@ -3,66 +3,68 @@
 '''
 Return data to a Kafka topic
 
-:maintainer: Christer Edwards (christer.edwards@gmail.com)
-:maturity: 0.1
-:depends: kafka-python
+:maintainer: Justin Desilets (justin.desilets@gmail.com)
+:maturity: 20181119
+:depends: confluent-kafka
 :platform: all
 
-To enable this returner install kafka-python and enable the following settings
-in the minion config:
+To enable this returner install confluent-kafka and enable the following
+settings in the minion config:
 
-    returner.kafka.hostnames:
-      - "server1"
-      - "server2"
-      - "server3"
+    returner.kafka.bootstrap:
+      - "server1:9092"
+      - "server2:9092"
+      - "server3:9092"
 
     returner.kafka.topic: 'topic'
 
-To use the kafka returner, append '--return kafka' to the Salt command, eg;
+To use the kafka returner, append `--return kafka` to the Salt command, eg;
 
     salt '*' test.ping --return kafka
 
 '''
-
-# Import Python libs
 from __future__ import absolute_import, print_function, unicode_literals
 import logging
 import salt.utils.json
 
 # Import third-party libs
 try:
-    from kafka import KafkaClient, SimpleProducer
+    from confluent_kafka import Producer
     HAS_KAFKA = True
 except ImportError:
     HAS_KAFKA = False
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
+
 __virtualname__ = 'kafka'
 
 
 def __virtual__():
     if not HAS_KAFKA:
-        return False, 'Could not import kafka returner; kafka-python is not installed.'
+        return False, 'Could not import kafka returner; confluent-kafka is not installed.'
     return __virtualname__
 
 
-def _get_conn(ret=None):
+def _get_conn():
     '''
     Return a kafka connection
     '''
-    if __salt__['config.option']('returner.kafka.hostnames'):
-        hostnames = __salt__['config.option']('returner.kafka.hostnames')
-        return KafkaClient(hostnames)
+    if __salt__['config.option']('returner.kafka.bootstrap'):
+        bootstrap = ','.join(__salt__['config.option']('returner.kafka.bootstrap'))
     else:
-        log.error('Unable to find kafka returner config option: hostnames')
+        log.error('Unable to find kafka returner config option: bootstrap')
+        return None
+    return bootstrap
 
 
-def _close_conn(conn):
-    '''
-    Close the kafka connection
-    '''
-    conn.close()
+def _delivery_report(err, msg):
+    ''' Called once for each message produced to indicate delivery result.
+        Triggered by poll() or flush(). '''
+    if err is not None:
+        log.error('Message delivery failed: %s', err)
+    else:
+        log.debug('Message delivered to %s [%s]', msg.topic(), msg.partition())
 
 
 def returner(ret):
@@ -72,10 +74,11 @@ def returner(ret):
     if __salt__['config.option']('returner.kafka.topic'):
         topic = __salt__['config.option']('returner.kafka.topic')
 
-        conn = _get_conn(ret)
-        producer = SimpleProducer(conn)
-        producer.send_messages(topic, salt.utils.json.dumps(ret))
+        conn = _get_conn()
+        producer = Producer({'bootstrap.servers': conn})
+        producer.poll(0)
+        producer.produce(topic, salt.utils.json.dumps(ret), str(ret).encode('utf-8'), callback=_delivery_report)
 
-        _close_conn(conn)
+        producer.flush()
     else:
         log.error('Unable to find kafka returner config option: topic')