diff --git a/redisvl/utils/vectorize/text/azureopenai.py b/redisvl/utils/vectorize/text/azureopenai.py
index a387e238..81a03803 100644
--- a/redisvl/utils/vectorize/text/azureopenai.py
+++ b/redisvl/utils/vectorize/text/azureopenai.py
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ def __init__(
                 'Deployment name' not the 'Model name'. Defaults to
                 'text-embedding-ada-002'.
             api_config (Optional[Dict], optional): Dictionary containing the
-                API key, API version, Azure endpoint, and any other API options.
+                API key, API version, Azure endpoint, Azure deployment, and any other API options.
                 Defaults to None.
 
         Raises:
@@ -127,6 +127,19 @@ def _initialize_clients(self, api_config: Optional[Dict]):
                 "Provide it in api_config or set the AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY\
                     environment variable."
             )
+        
+        azure_deployment = (
+            api_config.pop("azure_deployment")
+            if api_config
+            else os.getenv("AZURE_OPENAI_DEPLOYMENT")
+        )
+
+        if not azure_deployment:
+            raise ValueError(
+                "AzureOpenAI API deployment is required. "
+                "Provide it in api_config or set the AZURE_OPENAI_DEPLOYMENT\
+                    environment variable."
+            )
 
         self._client = AzureOpenAI(
             api_key=api_key,