diff --git a/datasette/app.py b/datasette/app.py
index 4552d9d4..28b5e857 100644
--- a/datasette/app.py
+++ b/datasette/app.py
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ from .utils import (
 from .utils.asgi import (
     AsgiLifespan,
     asgi_static,
+    asgi_send,
     asgi_send_html,
     asgi_send_json,
     asgi_send_redirect,
@@ -131,14 +132,7 @@ DEFAULT_CONFIG = {option.name: option.default for option in CONFIG_OPTIONS}
 
 
 async def favicon(scope, receive, send):
-    await send(
-        {
-            "type": "http.response.start",
-            "status": 200,
-            "headers": [[b"content-type", b"text/plain"]],
-        }
-    )
-    await send({"type": "http.response.body", "body": b""})
+    await asgi_send(send, "", 200)
 
 
 class Datasette:
diff --git a/datasette/utils/asgi.py b/datasette/utils/asgi.py
index be53627f..ac7d62a4 100644
--- a/datasette/utils/asgi.py
+++ b/datasette/utils/asgi.py
@@ -213,12 +213,13 @@ async def asgi_send_redirect(send, location, status=302):
     )
 
 
-async def asgi_send(send, content, status, headers, content_type="text/plain"):
+async def asgi_send(send, content, status, headers=None, content_type="text/plain"):
     await asgi_start(send, status, headers, content_type)
     await send({"type": "http.response.body", "body": content.encode("utf8")})
 
 
-async def asgi_start(send, status, headers, content_type="text/plain"):
+async def asgi_start(send, status, headers=None, content_type="text/plain"):
+    headers = headers or {}
     # Remove any existing content-type header
     headers = dict([(k, v) for k, v in headers.items() if k.lower() != "content-type"])
     headers["content-type"] = content_type