diff --git a/api/v1alpha1/api.go b/api/v1alpha1/api.go
index 9e05b36d..38b4191f 100644
--- a/api/v1alpha1/api.go
+++ b/api/v1alpha1/api.go
@@ -42,9 +42,9 @@ type AIGatewayRouteList struct {
 type AIGatewayRouteSpec struct {
 	// TargetRefs are the names of the Gateway resources this AIGatewayRoute is being attached to.
 	//
-	// +optional
+	// +kubebuilder:validation:MinItems=1
 	// +kubebuilder:validation:MaxItems=128
-	TargetRefs []gwapiv1a2.LocalPolicyTargetReferenceWithSectionName `json:"targetRefs,omitempty"`
+	TargetRefs []gwapiv1a2.LocalPolicyTargetReferenceWithSectionName `json:"targetRefs"`
 	// APISchema specifies the API schema of the input that the target Gateway(s) will receive.
 	// Based on this schema, the ai-gateway will perform the necessary transformation to the
 	// output schema specified in the selected AIServiceBackend during the routing process.
diff --git a/manifests/charts/ai-gateway-helm/crds/aigateway.envoyproxy.io_aigatewayroutes.yaml b/manifests/charts/ai-gateway-helm/crds/aigateway.envoyproxy.io_aigatewayroutes.yaml
index 2207e48e..50213fbf 100644
--- a/manifests/charts/ai-gateway-helm/crds/aigateway.envoyproxy.io_aigatewayroutes.yaml
+++ b/manifests/charts/ai-gateway-helm/crds/aigateway.envoyproxy.io_aigatewayroutes.yaml
@@ -355,10 +355,12 @@ spec:
                   - name
                   type: object
                 maxItems: 128
+                minItems: 1
                 type: array
             required:
             - inputSchema
             - rules
+            - targetRefs
             type: object
         type: object
     served: true
diff --git a/tests/cel-validation/main_test.go b/tests/cel-validation/main_test.go
index 0642e3b9..197768d9 100644
--- a/tests/cel-validation/main_test.go
+++ b/tests/cel-validation/main_test.go
@@ -41,6 +41,10 @@ func TestAIGatewayRoutes(t *testing.T) {
 			name:   "unsupported_match.yaml",
 			expErr: "spec.rules[0].matches[0].headers: Invalid value: \"array\": currently only exact match is supported",
 		},
+		{
+			name:   "no_target_refs.yaml",
+			expErr: `spec.targetRefs: Invalid value: 0: spec.targetRefs in body should have at least 1 items`,
+		},
 	} {
 		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
 			data, err := testdata.ReadFile(path.Join("testdata/aigatewayroutes", tc.name))
diff --git a/tests/cel-validation/testdata/aigatewayroutes/basic.yaml b/tests/cel-validation/testdata/aigatewayroutes/basic.yaml
index 01650577..22108031 100644
--- a/tests/cel-validation/testdata/aigatewayroutes/basic.yaml
+++ b/tests/cel-validation/testdata/aigatewayroutes/basic.yaml
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@ metadata:
   name: apple
   namespace: default
 spec:
+  targetRefs:
+    - name: some-gateway
+      kind: Gateway
+      group: gateway.networking.k8s.io
   inputSchema:
     schema: OpenAI
   rules:
diff --git a/tests/cel-validation/testdata/aigatewayroutes/no_target_refs.yaml b/tests/cel-validation/testdata/aigatewayroutes/no_target_refs.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ae7f356b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/cel-validation/testdata/aigatewayroutes/no_target_refs.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+apiVersion: aigateway.envoyproxy.io/v1alpha1
+kind: AIGatewayRoute
+metadata:
+  name: apple
+  namespace: default
+spec:
+  targetRefs: []
+  inputSchema:
+    schema: OpenAI
+  rules:
+    - matches:
+      - headers:
+        - type: Exact
+          name: x-envoy-ai-gateway-model
+          value: llama3-70b
+      backendRefs:
+        - name: kserve
+          weight: 20
+        - name: aws-bedrock
+          weight: 80
diff --git a/tests/cel-validation/testdata/aigatewayroutes/non_openai_schema.yaml b/tests/cel-validation/testdata/aigatewayroutes/non_openai_schema.yaml
index 9fa8a638..14713500 100644
--- a/tests/cel-validation/testdata/aigatewayroutes/non_openai_schema.yaml
+++ b/tests/cel-validation/testdata/aigatewayroutes/non_openai_schema.yaml
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@ metadata:
   name: apple
   namespace: default
 spec:
+  targetRefs:
+    - name: some-gateway
+      kind: Gateway
+      group: gateway.networking.k8s.io
   inputSchema:
     # Input must be OpenAI schema at the moment, so this is invalid.
     schema: AWSBedrock
diff --git a/tests/cel-validation/testdata/aigatewayroutes/unknown_schema.yaml b/tests/cel-validation/testdata/aigatewayroutes/unknown_schema.yaml
index 71c12727..7219d8db 100644
--- a/tests/cel-validation/testdata/aigatewayroutes/unknown_schema.yaml
+++ b/tests/cel-validation/testdata/aigatewayroutes/unknown_schema.yaml
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@ metadata:
   name: apple
   namespace: default
 spec:
+  targetRefs:
+    - name: some-gateway
+      kind: Gateway
+      group: gateway.networking.k8s.io
   inputSchema:
     # Schema must be OpenAI schema at the moment, so this is invalid.
     schema: SomeRandomVendor
diff --git a/tests/cel-validation/testdata/aigatewayroutes/unsupported_match.yaml b/tests/cel-validation/testdata/aigatewayroutes/unsupported_match.yaml
index e2245b54..90c3e245 100644
--- a/tests/cel-validation/testdata/aigatewayroutes/unsupported_match.yaml
+++ b/tests/cel-validation/testdata/aigatewayroutes/unsupported_match.yaml
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@ metadata:
   name: apple
   namespace: default
 spec:
+  targetRefs:
+    - name: some-gateway
+      kind: Gateway
+      group: gateway.networking.k8s.io
   inputSchema:
     schema: OpenAI
   rules: