diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5965b73850bd..0d3757441062 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ Ref: https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/
 
 ### Improvements
 
+* (baseapp) [#16407](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/16407) Make `DefaultProposalHandler.ProcessProposalHandler` return a ProcessProposal NoOp when using none or a NoOp mempool.
 * (deps) [#16083](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/16083) Bumps `proto-builder` image to 0.13.0.
 * (client) [#16075](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/16075) Partly revert [#15953](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/issues/15953) and `factory.Prepare` now does nothing in offline mode.
 * (server) [#15984](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/15984) Use `cosmossdk.io/log` package for logging instead of CometBFT logger. NOTE: v0.45 and v0.46 were not using CometBFT logger either. This keeps the same underlying logger (zerolog) as in v0.45.x+ and v0.46.x+ but now properly supporting filtered logging.
diff --git a/baseapp/baseapp.go b/baseapp/baseapp.go
index 95994e1472bb..3a90eaf2b815 100644
--- a/baseapp/baseapp.go
+++ b/baseapp/baseapp.go
@@ -951,7 +951,7 @@ func NewDefaultProposalHandler(mp mempool.Mempool, txVerifier ProposalTxVerifier
 // FIFO order.
 func (h DefaultProposalHandler) PrepareProposalHandler() sdk.PrepareProposalHandler {
 	return func(ctx sdk.Context, req abci.RequestPrepareProposal) abci.ResponsePrepareProposal {
-		// If the mempool is nil or a no-op mempool, we simply return the transactions
+		// If the mempool is nil or NoOp we simply return the transactions
 		// requested from CometBFT, which, by default, should be in FIFO order.
 		_, isNoOp := h.mempool.(mempool.NoOpMempool)
 		if h.mempool == nil || isNoOp {
@@ -1008,6 +1008,13 @@ func (h DefaultProposalHandler) PrepareProposalHandler() sdk.PrepareProposalHand
 // is used in both steps, and applications must ensure that this is the case in
 // non-default handlers.
 func (h DefaultProposalHandler) ProcessProposalHandler() sdk.ProcessProposalHandler {
+	// If the mempool is nil or NoOp we simply return ACCEPT,
+	// because PrepareProposal may have included txs that could fail verification.
+	_, isNoOp := h.mempool.(mempool.NoOpMempool)
+	if h.mempool == nil || isNoOp {
+		return NoOpProcessProposal()
+	}
+
 	return func(ctx sdk.Context, req abci.RequestProcessProposal) abci.ResponseProcessProposal {
 		for _, txBytes := range req.Txs {
 			_, err := h.txVerifier.ProcessProposalVerifyTx(txBytes)
diff --git a/docs/docs/building-apps/02-app-mempool.md b/docs/docs/building-apps/02-app-mempool.md
index 51c76a4c9d75..b32b9654779e 100644
--- a/docs/docs/building-apps/02-app-mempool.md
+++ b/docs/docs/building-apps/02-app-mempool.md
@@ -43,7 +43,8 @@ all transactions, it can provide greater control over transaction ordering.
 Allowing the application to handle ordering enables the application to define how
 it would like the block constructed. 
 
-Currently, there is a default `PrepareProposal` implementation provided by the application.
+The Cosmos SDK defines the `DefaultProposalHandler` type, which provides applications with
+`PrepareProposal` and `ProcessProposal` handlers.
 
 ```go reference
 https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/blob/v0.47.0-rc1/baseapp/baseapp.go#L868-L916
@@ -116,6 +117,9 @@ A no-op mempool is a mempool where transactions are completely discarded and ign
 When this mempool is used, it assumed that an application will rely on CometBFT's transaction ordering defined in `RequestPrepareProposal`,
 which is FIFO-ordered by default.
 
+> Note: If a NoOp mempool is used, PrepareProposal and ProcessProposal both should be aware of this as
+> PrepareProposal could include transactions that could fail verification in ProcessProposal.
+
 ### Sender Nonce Mempool
 
 The nonce mempool is a mempool that keeps transactions from an sorted by nonce in order to avoid the issues with nonces.