diff --git a/django/core/cache/backends/base.py b/django/core/cache/backends/base.py
index 186a45ddd68..af262fecdd1 100644
--- a/django/core/cache/backends/base.py
+++ b/django/core/cache/backends/base.py
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ class BaseCache(object):
                 default = default()
             val = self.add(key, default, timeout=timeout, version=version)
             if val:
-                return self.get(key, version=version)
+                return self.get(key, default, version)
         return val
 
     def has_key(self, key, version=None):
diff --git a/docs/releases/1.9.1.txt b/docs/releases/1.9.1.txt
index cdf7bb35caf..91a0f33a2ad 100644
--- a/docs/releases/1.9.1.txt
+++ b/docs/releases/1.9.1.txt
@@ -9,4 +9,5 @@ Django 1.9.1 fixes several bugs in 1.9.
 Bugfixes
 ========
 
-* ...
+* Fixed ``BaseCache.get_or_set()`` with the ``DummyCache`` backend
+  (:ticket:`25840`).
diff --git a/tests/cache/tests.py b/tests/cache/tests.py
index ba3745847b9..cd61690d34d 100644
--- a/tests/cache/tests.py
+++ b/tests/cache/tests.py
@@ -202,6 +202,15 @@ class DummyCacheTests(SimpleTestCase):
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, cache.decr_version, 'answer')
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, cache.decr_version, 'does_not_exist')
 
+    def test_get_or_set(self):
+        self.assertEqual(cache.get_or_set('mykey', 'default'), 'default')
+
+    def test_get_or_set_callable(self):
+        def my_callable():
+            return 'default'
+
+        self.assertEqual(cache.get_or_set('mykey', my_callable), 'default')
+
 
 def custom_key_func(key, key_prefix, version):
     "A customized cache key function"