diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 1013fc22d..edc452657 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -11,6 +11,10 @@
 * [#1877](https://github.com/bbatsov/projectile/pull/1877): Add custom variable `projectile-cmd-hist-ignoredups`.
 * Add support for Eask projects.
 
+### Bugs fixed
+
+* [#1881](https://github.com/bbatsov/projectile/issues/1881): Fix projectile-recentf when called outside any project
+
 ## 2.8.0 (2023-10-13)
 
 ### New features
diff --git a/projectile.el b/projectile.el
index d422632a4..208fb9358 100644
--- a/projectile.el
+++ b/projectile.el
@@ -4933,7 +4933,7 @@ directory to open."
 (defun projectile-recentf-files ()
   "Return a list of recently visited files in a project."
   (and (boundp 'recentf-list)
-       (let ((project-root (projectile-acquire-root)))
+       (let ((project-root (expand-file-name (projectile-acquire-root))))
          (mapcar
           (lambda (f) (file-relative-name f project-root))
           (cl-remove-if-not