diff --git a/browser/ui/sidebar/BUILD.gn b/browser/ui/sidebar/BUILD.gn
index 5a5c8d9e05c..dc37768b435 100644
--- a/browser/ui/sidebar/BUILD.gn
+++ b/browser/ui/sidebar/BUILD.gn
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@ source_set("browser_tests") {
       "//brave/browser/ui/sidebar",
       "//brave/components/sidebar",
       "//chrome/browser",
+      "//chrome/browser/profiles:profile",
       "//chrome/browser/ui",
       "//chrome/test:test_support_ui",
       "//content/test:test_support",
diff --git a/browser/ui/views/sidebar/sidebar_container_view_browsertest.cc b/browser/ui/views/sidebar/sidebar_container_view_browsertest.cc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ba8561a2664
--- /dev/null
+++ b/browser/ui/views/sidebar/sidebar_container_view_browsertest.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2022 The Brave Authors. All rights reserved.
+// This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public
+// License, v. 2.0. If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this file,
+// you can obtain one at http://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/.
+
+#include "brave/browser/ui/views/sidebar/sidebar_container_view.h"
+
+#include "brave/browser/ui/brave_browser.h"
+#include "brave/browser/ui/sidebar/sidebar_controller.h"
+#include "brave/browser/ui/sidebar/sidebar_service_factory.h"
+#include "brave/browser/ui/views/frame/brave_browser_view.h"
+#include "brave/browser/ui/views/sidebar/sidebar_button_view.h"
+#include "brave/components/constants/pref_names.h"
+#include "brave/components/sidebar/sidebar_item.h"
+#include "brave/components/sidebar/sidebar_service.h"
+#include "chrome/browser/profiles/profile.h"
+#include "chrome/browser/ui/views/frame/toolbar_button_provider.h"
+#include "chrome/browser/ui/views/toolbar/side_panel_toolbar_button.h"
+#include "chrome/test/base/in_process_browser_test.h"
+#include "components/prefs/pref_service.h"
+#include "content/public/test/browser_test.h"
+#include "testing/gtest/include/gtest/gtest.h"
+
+class SidebarContainerViewBrowserTest : public InProcessBrowserTest {
+ public:
+  SidebarContainerViewBrowserTest() = default;
+  SidebarContainerViewBrowserTest(const SidebarContainerViewBrowserTest&) =
+      delete;
+  SidebarContainerViewBrowserTest& operator=(
+      const SidebarContainerViewBrowserTest&) = delete;
+  ~SidebarContainerViewBrowserTest() override = default;
+
+  BraveBrowserView* brave_browser_view() {
+    return static_cast<BraveBrowserView*>(
+        BraveBrowserView::GetBrowserViewForBrowser(browser()));
+  }
+
+  sidebar::SidebarService* GetService() {
+    return sidebar::SidebarServiceFactory::GetForProfile(browser()->profile());
+  }
+
+  SidebarContainerView* sidebar() {
+    auto* controller =
+        static_cast<BraveBrowser*>(browser())->sidebar_controller();
+    return static_cast<SidebarContainerView*>(controller->sidebar());
+  }
+
+  SidePanelToolbarButton* toolbar_button() {
+    return BrowserView::GetBrowserViewForBrowser(browser())
+        ->toolbar_button_provider()
+        ->GetSidePanelButton();
+  }
+};
+
+IN_PROC_BROWSER_TEST_F(SidebarContainerViewBrowserTest,
+                       ButtonIsShownByDefault) {
+  EXPECT_LT(0u, GetService()->items().size());
+  EXPECT_TRUE(sidebar());
+  EXPECT_TRUE(toolbar_button());
+  EXPECT_TRUE(toolbar_button()->GetVisible());
+}
+
+IN_PROC_BROWSER_TEST_F(SidebarContainerViewBrowserTest, ButtonIsHiddenByPref) {
+  EXPECT_TRUE(toolbar_button()->GetVisible());
+
+  // When the pref is false, the button should be hidden.
+  browser()->profile()->GetPrefs()->SetBoolean(kShowSidePanelButton, false);
+  EXPECT_FALSE(toolbar_button()->GetVisible());
+
+  // Reenabling it should show the button again.
+  browser()->profile()->GetPrefs()->SetBoolean(kShowSidePanelButton, true);
+  EXPECT_TRUE(toolbar_button()->GetVisible());
+}
+
+IN_PROC_BROWSER_TEST_F(SidebarContainerViewBrowserTest,
+                       ButtonIsHiddenWithoutPanelItems) {
+  EXPECT_TRUE(toolbar_button()->GetVisible());
+
+  // Removing all items should make the button hide.
+  auto items_count = GetService()->items().size();
+  while (items_count > 0) {
+    GetService()->RemoveItemAt(--items_count);
+  }
+  EXPECT_FALSE(toolbar_button()->GetVisible());
+
+  // Adding a new default item should cause the button to become visible again.
+  GetService()->AddItem(sidebar::SidebarItem::Create(
+      u"Test", sidebar::SidebarItem::Type::kTypeBuiltIn,
+      sidebar::SidebarItem::BuiltInItemType::kReadingList, true));
+  EXPECT_EQ(1u, GetService()->items().size());
+  EXPECT_TRUE(toolbar_button()->GetVisible());
+}
diff --git a/test/BUILD.gn b/test/BUILD.gn
index b811b2e29f3..2339c6c19b1 100644
--- a/test/BUILD.gn
+++ b/test/BUILD.gn
@@ -858,6 +858,15 @@ if (!is_android) {
       "//media:test_support",
       "//testing/gmock",
     ]
+
+    if (enable_sidebar) {
+      sources += [ "//brave/browser/ui/views/sidebar/sidebar_container_view_browsertest.cc" ]
+      deps += [
+        "//brave/browser/ui/sidebar",
+        "//brave/components/sidebar",
+      ]
+    }
+
     if (enable_brave_vpn) {
       deps += [ "//brave/renderer/brave_vpn:browser_tests" ]
     }