diff --git a/src/wp-includes/post-functions.php b/src/wp-includes/post-functions.php
index fdd01eed0c..147c3a4c05 100644
--- a/src/wp-includes/post-functions.php
+++ b/src/wp-includes/post-functions.php
@@ -2775,6 +2775,7 @@ function wp_get_recent_posts( $args = array(), $output = ARRAY_A ) {
  *
  * @since 1.0.0
  * @since 4.2.0 Support was added for encoding emoji in the post title, content, and excerpt.
+ * @since 4.4.0 A 'meta_input' array can now be passed to $postarr to add post meta data.
  *
  * @see sanitize_post()
  * @global wpdb $wpdb WordPress database abstraction object.
@@ -3172,6 +3173,12 @@ function wp_insert_post( $postarr, $wp_error = false ) {
 		}
 	}
 
+	if ( ! empty( $postarr['meta_input'] ) ) {
+		foreach ( $postarr['meta_input'] as $field => $value ) {
+			update_post_meta( $post_ID, $field, $value );
+		}
+	}
+
 	$current_guid = get_post_field( 'guid', $post_ID );
 
 	// Set GUID.
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/tests/post.php b/tests/phpunit/tests/post.php
index d51b5462b4..ac2ca71ce5 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/tests/post.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/tests/post.php
@@ -452,6 +452,25 @@ class Tests_Post extends WP_UnitTestCase {
 		$this->assertContains( 'wptests_pt=' . $p, $post->guid );
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * @ticket 20451
+	 */
+	public function test_wp_insert_post_with_meta_input() {
+		$post_id = wp_insert_post( array(
+			'post_title'   => '',
+			'post_content' => 'test',
+			'post_status'  => 'publish',
+			'post_type'    => 'post',
+			'meta_input'   => array(
+				'hello' => 'world',
+				'foo'   => 'bar'
+			)
+		) );
+
+		$this->assertEquals( 'world', get_post_meta( $post_id, 'hello', true ) );
+		$this->assertEquals( 'bar', get_post_meta( $post_id, 'foo', true ) );
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * @ticket 5364
 	 */