--- a/files/usr/share/cinnamon/applets/menu@cinnamon.org/applet.js
+++ b/files/usr/share/cinnamon/applets/menu@cinnamon.org/applet.js
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 const MAX_RECENT_FILES = 20;
 
 const USER_DESKTOP_PATH = FileUtils.getUserDesktopDir();
+const MENU_EDIT_OK = FileUtils.testMenuEditDeps();
 
 
 let appsys = Cinnamon.AppSystem.get_default();
@@ -746,8 +747,11 @@
             Main.placesManager.connect('places-updated', Lang.bind(this, this._refreshApps));
             this.RecentManager.connect('changed', Lang.bind(this, this._refreshApps));
 
-            this.edit_menu_item = new Applet.MenuItem(_("Edit menu"), Gtk.STOCK_EDIT, Lang.bind(this, this._launch_editor));
-            this._applet_context_menu.addMenuItem(this.edit_menu_item);
+            if ( MENU_EDIT_OK ) {
+              this.edit_menu_item = new Applet.MenuItem(_("Edit menu"), Gtk.STOCK_EDIT, Lang.bind(this, this._launch_editor));
+              this._applet_context_menu.addMenuItem(this.edit_menu_item);
+            }
+
             let settings_menu_item = new Applet.MenuItem(_("Menu settings"), null, function() {
                 Util.spawnCommandLine("cinnamon-settings menu");
             });
--- a/js/misc/fileUtils.js
+++ b/js/misc/fileUtils.js
@@ -45,6 +45,12 @@
     deleteGFile(dir);
 }
 
+
+function testMenuEditDeps() {
+   let MenuEditReq = Gio.file_new_for_path("/usr/bin/cinnamon-menu-editor");
+   return MenuEditReq.query_exists(null);
+}
+
 function getUserDesktopDir() {
     // Didn't find a function returning the user desktop dir, so parsing the user-dirs.dirs file to get it
     let userdirsFile = Gio.file_new_for_path(GLib.get_home_dir()+"/.config/user-dirs.dirs");