diff --git a/src/rpc/blockchain.cpp b/src/rpc/blockchain.cpp
--- a/src/rpc/blockchain.cpp
+++ b/src/rpc/blockchain.cpp
@@ -1845,6 +1845,22 @@
     return ret;
 }
 
+UniValue savemempool(const Config &config, const JSONRPCRequest &request) {
+    if (request.fHelp || request.params.size() != 0) {
+        throw std::runtime_error("savemempool\n"
+                                 "\nDumps the mempool to disk.\n"
+                                 "\nExamples:\n" +
+                                 HelpExampleCli("savemempool", "") +
+                                 HelpExampleRpc("savemempool", ""));
+    }
+
+    if (!DumpMempool()) {
+        throw JSONRPCError(RPC_MISC_ERROR, "Unable to dump mempool to disk");
+    }
+
+    return NullUniValue;
+}
+
 // clang-format off
 static const ContextFreeRPCCommand commands[] = {
     //  category            name                      actor (function)        argNames
@@ -1866,6 +1882,7 @@
     { "blockchain",         "gettxout",               gettxout,               {"txid","n","include_mempool"} },
     { "blockchain",         "gettxoutsetinfo",        gettxoutsetinfo,        {} },
     { "blockchain",         "pruneblockchain",        pruneblockchain,        {"height"} },
+    { "blockchain",         "savemempool",            savemempool,            {} },
     { "blockchain",         "verifychain",            verifychain,            {"checklevel","nblocks"} },
     { "blockchain",         "preciousblock",          preciousblock,          {"blockhash"} },
 
diff --git a/src/validation.h b/src/validation.h
--- a/src/validation.h
+++ b/src/validation.h
@@ -719,7 +719,7 @@
 CBlockFileInfo *GetBlockFileInfo(size_t n);
 
 /** Dump the mempool to disk. */
-void DumpMempool();
+bool DumpMempool();
 
 /** Load the mempool from disk. */
 bool LoadMempool(const Config &config);
diff --git a/src/validation.cpp b/src/validation.cpp
--- a/src/validation.cpp
+++ b/src/validation.cpp
@@ -5639,7 +5639,7 @@
     return true;
 }
 
-void DumpMempool(void) {
+bool DumpMempool(void) {
     int64_t start = GetTimeMicros();
 
     std::map<uint256, Amount> mapDeltas;
@@ -5659,7 +5659,7 @@
     try {
         FILE *filestr = fsbridge::fopen(GetDataDir() / "mempool.dat.new", "wb");
         if (!filestr) {
-            return;
+            return false;
         }
 
         CAutoFile file(filestr, SER_DISK, CLIENT_VERSION);
@@ -5685,7 +5685,9 @@
                   (mid - start) * MICRO, (last - mid) * MICRO);
     } catch (const std::exception &e) {
         LogPrintf("Failed to dump mempool: %s. Continuing anyway.\n", e.what());
+        return false;
     }
+    return true;
 }
 
 //! Guess how far we are in the verification process at the given block index
diff --git a/test/functional/mempool_persist.py b/test/functional/mempool_persist.py
--- a/test/functional/mempool_persist.py
+++ b/test/functional/mempool_persist.py
@@ -28,13 +28,23 @@
   - Restart node0 with -persistmempool. Verify that it has 5
     transactions in its mempool. This tests that -persistmempool=0
     does not overwrite a previously valid mempool stored on disk.
+  - Remove node0 mempool.dat and verify savemempool RPC recreates it
+    and verify that node1 can load it and has 5 transaction in its
+    mempool.
+  - Verify that savemempool throws when the RPC is called if
+    node1 can't write to disk.
 
 """
 from decimal import Decimal
+import os
 import time
 
 from test_framework.test_framework import BitcoinTestFramework
-from test_framework.util import assert_equal, wait_until
+from test_framework.util import (
+    assert_equal,
+    assert_raises_rpc_error,
+    wait_until
+)
 
 
 class MempoolPersistTest(BitcoinTestFramework):
@@ -85,6 +95,34 @@
         self.start_node(0)
         wait_until(lambda: len(self.nodes[0].getrawmempool()) == 5)
 
+        mempooldat0 = os.path.join(
+            self.options.tmpdir, 'node0', 'regtest', 'mempool.dat')
+        mempooldat1 = os.path.join(
+            self.options.tmpdir, 'node1', 'regtest', 'mempool.dat')
+        self.log.debug(
+            "Remove the mempool.dat file. Verify that savemempool to disk via RPC re-creates it")
+        os.remove(mempooldat0)
+        self.nodes[0].savemempool()
+        assert os.path.isfile(mempooldat0)
+
+        self.log.debug(
+            "Stop nodes, make node1 use mempool.dat from node0. Verify it has 5 transactions")
+        os.rename(mempooldat0, mempooldat1)
+        self.stop_nodes()
+        self.start_node(1, extra_args=[])
+        wait_until(lambda: len(self.nodes[1].getrawmempool()) == 5)
+
+        self.log.debug(
+            "Prevent bitcoind from writing mempool.dat to disk. Verify that `savemempool` fails")
+        # to test the exception we are setting bad permissions on a tmp file called mempool.dat.new
+        # which is an implementation detail that could change and break this test
+        mempooldotnew1 = mempooldat1 + '.new'
+        with os.fdopen(os.open(mempooldotnew1, os.O_CREAT, 0o000), 'w'):
+            pass
+        assert_raises_rpc_error(-1, "Unable to dump mempool to disk",
+                                self.nodes[1].savemempool)
+        os.remove(mempooldotnew1)
+
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     MempoolPersistTest().main()