diff --git a/packages/blocks/src/api/raw-handling/index.js b/packages/blocks/src/api/raw-handling/index.js
index 475453ca61aabf..2d1094023ada1d 100644
--- a/packages/blocks/src/api/raw-handling/index.js
+++ b/packages/blocks/src/api/raw-handling/index.js
@@ -38,7 +38,13 @@ export function deprecatedGetPhrasingContentSchema( context ) {
 export function rawHandler( { HTML = '' } ) {
 	// If we detect block delimiters, parse entirely as blocks.
 	if ( HTML.indexOf( '<!-- wp:' ) !== -1 ) {
-		return parse( HTML );
+		const parseResult = parse( HTML );
+		const isSingleFreeFormBlock =
+			parseResult.length === 1 &&
+			parseResult[ 0 ].name === 'core/freeform';
+		if ( ! isSingleFreeFormBlock ) {
+			return parseResult;
+		}
 	}
 
 	// An array of HTML strings and block objects. The blocks replace matched
diff --git a/packages/blocks/src/api/raw-handling/paste-handler.js b/packages/blocks/src/api/raw-handling/paste-handler.js
index 5e47e33140f987..58bd3f3809a742 100644
--- a/packages/blocks/src/api/raw-handling/paste-handler.js
+++ b/packages/blocks/src/api/raw-handling/paste-handler.js
@@ -100,7 +100,13 @@ export function pasteHandler( {
 		const content = HTML ? HTML : plainText;
 
 		if ( content.indexOf( '<!-- wp:' ) !== -1 ) {
-			return parse( content );
+			const parseResult = parse( content );
+			const isSingleFreeFormBlock =
+				parseResult.length === 1 &&
+				parseResult[ 0 ].name === 'core/freeform';
+			if ( ! isSingleFreeFormBlock ) {
+				return parseResult;
+			}
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/test/integration/__snapshots__/blocks-raw-handling.test.js.snap b/test/integration/__snapshots__/blocks-raw-handling.test.js.snap
index 589eef78f34e21..2ceadd67d4d1f4 100644
--- a/test/integration/__snapshots__/blocks-raw-handling.test.js.snap
+++ b/test/integration/__snapshots__/blocks-raw-handling.test.js.snap
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@ exports[`Blocks raw handling pasteHandler iframe-embed 1`] = `""`;
 
 exports[`Blocks raw handling pasteHandler markdown 1`] = `"This is a heading with <em>italic</em><br>This is a paragraph with a <a href="https://w.org/">link</a>, <strong>bold</strong>, and <del>strikethrough</del>.<br>Preserve<br>line breaks please.<br>Lists<br>A<br>Bulleted Indented<br>List<br>One<br>Two<br>Three<br>Table<br>First Header<br>Second Header<br>Content from cell 1<br>Content from cell 2<br>Content in the first column<br>Content in the second column<br><br><br><br>Table with empty cells.<br>Quote<br>First<br>Second<br>Code<br>Inline <code>code</code> tags should work.<br><code>This is a code block.</code>"`;
 
+exports[`Blocks raw handling pasteHandler mixed-content 1`] = `"Some heading<br><br>Content we need to preserve"`;
+
 exports[`Blocks raw handling pasteHandler ms-word 1`] = `"This is a title<br>&nbsp;<br>This is a subtitle<br>&nbsp;<br>This is a heading level 1<br>&nbsp;<br>This is a heading level 2<br>&nbsp;<br>This is a <strong>paragraph</strong> with a <a href="https://w.org/">link</a>.<br>&nbsp;<br>A<br>Bulleted<br>Indented<br>List<br>&nbsp;<br>One<br>Two<br>Three<br>&nbsp;<br>One<br>Two<br>Three<br>1<br>2<br>3<br>I<br>II<br>III<br>&nbsp;<br>An image:<br>&nbsp;<br><img width="451" height="338" src="file:LOW-RES.png"><br><a href="#anchor">This is an anchor link</a> that leads to the next paragraph.<br><a id="anchor">This is the paragraph with the anchor.</a><br><a href="#nowhere">This is an anchor link</a> that leads nowhere.<br><a>This is a paragraph with an anchor with no link pointing to it.</a><br>This is a reference to a footnote<a href="#_ftn1" id="_ftnref1">[1]</a>.<br>This is a reference to an endnote<a href="#_edn1" id="_ednref1">[i]</a>.<br><br><br><a href="#_ftnref1" id="_ftn1">[1]</a> This is a footnote.<br><br><br><a href="#_ednref1" id="_edn1">[i]</a> This is an endnote."`;
 
 exports[`Blocks raw handling pasteHandler ms-word-list 1`] = `"<a>This is a headline?</a><br>This is a text:<br>One<br>Two<br>Three<br><a>Lorem Ipsum.</a><br>&nbsp;"`;
diff --git a/test/integration/blocks-raw-handling.test.js b/test/integration/blocks-raw-handling.test.js
index 81d3b7053468be..70af14f3290460 100644
--- a/test/integration/blocks-raw-handling.test.js
+++ b/test/integration/blocks-raw-handling.test.js
@@ -424,6 +424,7 @@ describe( 'Blocks raw handling', () => {
 			'shortcode-matching',
 			'slack-quote',
 			'slack-paragraphs',
+			'mixed-content',
 		].forEach( ( type ) => {
 			// eslint-disable-next-line jest/valid-title
 			it( type, () => {
diff --git a/test/integration/fixtures/documents/mixed-content-in.html b/test/integration/fixtures/documents/mixed-content-in.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..a190f8523cd6c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/fixtures/documents/mixed-content-in.html
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+<h3>Some heading</h3>
+<ul>
+<li style="list-style-type: none;">
+<ul><!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --></ul>
+</li>
+<li>Content we need to preserve</li>
+</ul>
diff --git a/test/integration/fixtures/documents/mixed-content-out.html b/test/integration/fixtures/documents/mixed-content-out.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..9c317a3b8edbf2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/fixtures/documents/mixed-content-out.html
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+<!-- wp:heading {"level":3} -->
+<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Some heading</h3>
+<!-- /wp:heading -->
\ No newline at end of file