diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 4bec7b613..9bbda7769 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 * New translation for "Search site", the label applied to the search box for screenreaders. This was previously incorrectly labelled as "Toggle navigation" (#2320).
 * You can now choose where the search box is placed with the "search" navbar component. This has been documented for a very long time, but as far as I can tell, never worked (#2320). If you have made your own template with a custom `navbar`, you will need to remove the `<form>` with `role="search"` to avoid getting two search boxes.
 * The mobile version of pkgdown sites no longer has a scrollburglar (a small amount of horizontal scroll) (#2179, @netique).
+* The `template.bslib` item now also accepts a `bootswatch` key (@gadenbuie, #2483).
 
 # pkgdown 2.0.9
 
diff --git a/R/theme.R b/R/theme.R
index 67fc1743b..d3f188584 100644
--- a/R/theme.R
+++ b/R/theme.R
@@ -36,7 +36,9 @@ bs_theme <- function(pkg = ".") {
 
   bs_theme_args <- pkg$meta$template$bslib %||% list()
   bs_theme_args[["version"]] <- pkg$bs_version
+  # In bslib >= 0.5.1, bs_theme() takes bootstrap preset theme via `preset`
   bs_theme_args[["preset"]] <- get_bslib_theme(pkg)
+  bs_theme_args[["bootswatch"]] <- NULL
 
   bs_theme <- exec(bslib::bs_theme, !!!bs_theme_args)
 
@@ -91,31 +93,35 @@ highlight_styles <- function() {
 }
 
 get_bslib_theme <- function(pkg) {
-  preset <- pkg$meta[["template"]]$bslib$preset
+  themes <- list(
+    "template.bslib.preset" = pkg$meta[["template"]]$bslib$preset,
+    "template.bslib.bootswatch" = pkg$meta[["template"]]$bslib$bootswatch,
+    "template.bootswatch" = pkg$meta[["template"]]$bootswatch,
+    # Historically (< 0.2.0), bootswatch wasn't a top-level template field
+    "template.params.bootswatch" = pkg$meta[["template"]]$params$bootswatch
+  )
 
-  if (!is.null(preset)) {
-    check_bslib_theme(preset, pkg, c("template", "bslib", "preset"))
-    return(preset)
-  }
+  is_present <- !purrr::map_lgl(themes, is.null)
+  n_present <- sum(is_present)
+  n_unique <- length(unique(themes[is_present]))
 
-  bootswatch <-
-    pkg$meta[["template"]]$bootswatch %||%
-    # Historically (< 0.2.0), bootswatch wasn't a top-level template field
-    pkg$meta[["template"]]$params$bootswatch
+  if (n_present == 0) {
+    return("default")
+  }
 
-  if (!is.null(bootswatch)) {
-    check_bslib_theme(bootswatch, pkg, c("template", "bootswatch"))
-    return(bootswatch)
+  if (n_present > 1 && n_unique > 1) {
+    cli::cli_warn(c(
+      "Multiple Bootstrap preset themes were set. Using {.val {themes[is_present][[1]]}} from {.field {names(themes)[is_present][1]}}.",
+      x = "Found {.and {.field {names(themes)[is_present]}}}.",
+      i = "Remove extraneous theme declarations to avoid this warning."
+    ))
   }
 
-  "default"
+  field <- names(themes)[which(is_present)[1]]
+  check_bslib_theme(themes[[field]], pkg, strsplit(field, ".")[[1]])
 }
 
 check_bslib_theme <- function(theme, pkg, field = c("template", "bootswatch"), bs_version = pkg$bs_version) {
-  if (theme %in% c("_default", "default")) {
-    return("default")
-  }
-
   bslib_themes <- c(
     bslib::bootswatch_themes(bs_version),
     bslib::builtin_themes(bs_version),
diff --git a/tests/testthat/_snaps/templates.md b/tests/testthat/_snaps/templates.md
index 0a744668b..2b3f3ecdf 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/_snaps/templates.md
+++ b/tests/testthat/_snaps/templates.md
@@ -16,3 +16,9 @@
       Error in `as_pkgdown()`:
       ! Both template.bootstrap and template.bslib.version are set.
 
+# Warns when Bootstrap theme is specified in multiple locations
+
+    Multiple Bootstrap preset themes were set. Using "flatly" from template.bslib.preset.
+    x Found template.bslib.preset, template.bslib.bootswatch, template.bootswatch, and template.params.bootswatch.
+    i Remove extraneous theme declarations to avoid this warning.
+
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-render.R b/tests/testthat/test-render.R
index c566b16bd..55b1ac327 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-render.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-render.R
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 test_that("check_bslib_theme() works", {
   pkg <- as_pkgdown(test_path("assets/reference"))
-  expect_equal(check_bslib_theme("_default", pkg, bs_version = 4), "default")
+  expect_equal(check_bslib_theme("default", pkg, bs_version = 4), "default")
   expect_equal(check_bslib_theme("lux", pkg, bs_version = 4), "lux")
   expect_snapshot_error(check_bslib_theme("paper", pkg, bs_version = 4))
   expect_snapshot_error(check_bslib_theme("paper", pkg, bs_version = 4, field = c("template", "preset")))
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-templates.R b/tests/testthat/test-templates.R
index a79d7aad0..2b0c4faa3 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-templates.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-templates.R
@@ -146,3 +146,67 @@ test_that("Valid local Bootstrap version masks invalid template package", {
     )))
   )
 })
+
+# Bootstrap theme resolution ----------------------------------------------
+test_that("Finds Bootstrap theme in all the places", {
+  pkg_sketchy <- local_pkgdown_site(meta = '
+    template:
+      bslib:
+        preset: sketchy
+        version: 5
+  ')
+  pkg_superhero <- local_pkgdown_site(meta = '
+    template:
+      bslib:
+        preset: superhero
+        version: 5
+  ')
+  pkg_cosmo <- local_pkgdown_site(meta = '
+    template:
+      bootstrap: 5
+      bootswatch: cosmo
+  ')
+
+  pkg_yeti <- local_pkgdown_site(meta = '
+    template:
+      bootstrap: 5
+      params:
+        bootswatch: yeti
+  ')
+
+  expect_equal(get_bslib_theme(pkg_sketchy), "sketchy")
+  expect_equal(get_bslib_theme(pkg_superhero), "superhero")
+  expect_equal(get_bslib_theme(pkg_cosmo), "cosmo")
+  expect_equal(get_bslib_theme(pkg_yeti), "yeti")
+})
+
+test_that("Warns when Bootstrap theme is specified in multiple locations", {
+  pkg <- local_pkgdown_site(meta = '
+    template:
+      bootstrap: 5
+      bootswatch: cerulean
+      bslib:
+        preset: flatly
+        bootswatch: lux
+      params:
+        bootswatch: darkly
+  ')
+
+  expect_snapshot_warning(
+    get_bslib_theme(pkg)
+  )
+})
+
+test_that("Doesn't warn when the same Bootstrap theme is specified in multiple locations", {
+  pkg <- local_pkgdown_site(meta = '
+    template:
+      bootswatch: cerulean
+      bslib:
+        preset: cerulean
+  ')
+
+  expect_equal(
+    expect_silent(get_bslib_theme(pkg)),
+    "cerulean"
+  )
+})