diff --git a/docs/_newsfragments/2182.breakingchange.rst b/docs/_newsfragments/2182.breakingchange.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..aeeb2e308
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/_newsfragments/2182.breakingchange.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+The function :func:`falcon.http_date_to_dt` now validates http-dates to have the correct
+timezone set. It now also returns timezone aware datetime objects.
diff --git a/falcon/util/misc.py b/falcon/util/misc.py
index 835dcbd29..1c03ea3a6 100644
--- a/falcon/util/misc.py
+++ b/falcon/util/misc.py
@@ -63,6 +63,10 @@
 
 _UNSAFE_CHARS = re.compile(r'[^a-zA-Z0-9.-]')
 
+_ALLOWED_HTTP_TIMEZONES: Tuple[str, ...] = ('GMT', 'UTC')
+
+_UTC_TIMEZONE = datetime.timezone.utc
+
 # PERF(kgriffs): Avoid superfluous namespace lookups
 _strptime: Callable[[str, str], datetime.datetime] = datetime.datetime.strptime
 _utcnow: Callable[[], datetime.datetime] = functools.partial(
@@ -170,7 +174,14 @@ def http_date_to_dt(http_date: str, obs_date: bool = False) -> datetime.datetime
 
     Raises:
         ValueError: http_date doesn't match any of the available time formats
+        ValueError: http_date doesn't match allowed timezones
     """
+    date_timezone_str = http_date[-3:]
+    has_tz_identifier = not date_timezone_str.isdigit()
+    if date_timezone_str not in _ALLOWED_HTTP_TIMEZONES and has_tz_identifier:
+        raise ValueError(
+            'timezone information of time data %r is not allowed' % http_date
+        )
 
     if not obs_date:
         # PERF(kgriffs): This violates DRY, but we do it anyway
@@ -178,7 +189,9 @@ def http_date_to_dt(http_date: str, obs_date: bool = False) -> datetime.datetime
         #   over it, and setting up exception handling blocks each
         #   time around the loop, in the case that we don't actually
         #   need to check for multiple formats.
-        return _strptime(http_date, '%a, %d %b %Y %H:%M:%S %Z')
+        return _strptime(http_date, '%a, %d %b %Y %H:%M:%S %Z').replace(
+            tzinfo=_UTC_TIMEZONE
+        )
 
     time_formats = (
         '%a, %d %b %Y %H:%M:%S %Z',
@@ -190,7 +203,7 @@ def http_date_to_dt(http_date: str, obs_date: bool = False) -> datetime.datetime
     # Loop through the formats and return the first that matches
     for time_format in time_formats:
         try:
-            return _strptime(http_date, time_format)
+            return _strptime(http_date, time_format).replace(tzinfo=_UTC_TIMEZONE)
         except ValueError:
             continue
 
diff --git a/tests/test_cookies.py b/tests/test_cookies.py
index 84e09d33d..46ae0328e 100644
--- a/tests/test_cookies.py
+++ b/tests/test_cookies.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 import falcon
 import falcon.testing as testing
 from falcon.util import http_date_to_dt
+from falcon.util.misc import _utcnow
 
 UNICODE_TEST_STRING = 'Unicode_\xc3\xa6\xc3\xb8'
 
@@ -172,7 +173,7 @@ def test_response_complex_case(client):
     assert cookie.domain is None
     assert cookie.same_site == 'Lax'
 
-    assert cookie.expires < utcnow_naive()
+    assert cookie.expires < _utcnow()
 
     # NOTE(kgriffs): I know accessing a private attr like this is
     # naughty of me, but we just need to sanity-check that the
@@ -194,7 +195,7 @@ def test(cookie, path, domain, samesite='Lax'):
         assert cookie.domain == domain
         assert cookie.path == path
         assert cookie.same_site == samesite
-        assert cookie.expires < utcnow_naive()
+        assert cookie.expires < _utcnow()
 
     test(result.cookies['foo'], path=None, domain=None)
     test(result.cookies['bar'], path='/bar', domain=None)
@@ -232,7 +233,7 @@ def test_set(cookie, value, samesite=None):
     def test_unset(cookie, samesite='Lax'):
         assert cookie.value == ''  # An unset cookie has an empty value
         assert cookie.same_site == samesite
-        assert cookie.expires < utcnow_naive()
+        assert cookie.expires < _utcnow()
 
     test_unset(result_unset.cookies['foo'], samesite='Strict')
     # default: bar is unset with no samesite param, so should go to Lax
@@ -255,7 +256,7 @@ def test_cookie_expires_naive(client):
     cookie = result.cookies['foo']
     assert cookie.value == 'bar'
     assert cookie.domain is None
-    assert cookie.expires == datetime(year=2050, month=1, day=1)
+    assert cookie.expires == datetime(year=2050, month=1, day=1, tzinfo=timezone.utc)
     assert not cookie.http_only
     assert cookie.max_age is None
     assert cookie.path is None
@@ -268,7 +269,9 @@ def test_cookie_expires_aware(client):
     cookie = result.cookies['foo']
     assert cookie.value == 'bar'
     assert cookie.domain is None
-    assert cookie.expires == datetime(year=2049, month=12, day=31, hour=23)
+    assert cookie.expires == datetime(
+        year=2049, month=12, day=31, hour=23, tzinfo=timezone.utc
+    )
     assert not cookie.http_only
     assert cookie.max_age is None
     assert cookie.path is None
@@ -326,7 +329,7 @@ def test_response_unset_cookie():
     assert match
 
     expiration = http_date_to_dt(match.group(1), obs_date=True)
-    assert expiration < utcnow_naive()
+    assert expiration < _utcnow()
 
 
 # =====================================================================
diff --git a/tests/test_request_attrs.py b/tests/test_request_attrs.py
index 81c8becbf..67869951b 100644
--- a/tests/test_request_attrs.py
+++ b/tests/test_request_attrs.py
@@ -702,7 +702,7 @@ def test_bogus_content_length_neg(self, asgi):
         ],
     )
     def test_date(self, asgi, header, attr):
-        date = datetime.datetime(2013, 4, 4, 5, 19, 18)
+        date = datetime.datetime(2013, 4, 4, 5, 19, 18, tzinfo=datetime.timezone.utc)
         date_str = 'Thu, 04 Apr 2013 05:19:18 GMT'
 
         headers = {header: date_str}
diff --git a/tests/test_utils.py b/tests/test_utils.py
index ec98da01b..bc00b8655 100644
--- a/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -129,21 +129,22 @@ def test_http_now(self):
 
     def test_dt_to_http(self):
         assert (
-            falcon.dt_to_http(datetime(2013, 4, 4)) == 'Thu, 04 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT'
+            falcon.dt_to_http(datetime(2013, 4, 4, tzinfo=timezone.utc))
+            == 'Thu, 04 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT'
         )
 
         assert (
-            falcon.dt_to_http(datetime(2013, 4, 4, 10, 28, 54))
+            falcon.dt_to_http(datetime(2013, 4, 4, 10, 28, 54, tzinfo=timezone.utc))
             == 'Thu, 04 Apr 2013 10:28:54 GMT'
         )
 
     def test_http_date_to_dt(self):
         assert falcon.http_date_to_dt('Thu, 04 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT') == datetime(
-            2013, 4, 4
+            2013, 4, 4, tzinfo=timezone.utc
         )
 
         assert falcon.http_date_to_dt('Thu, 04 Apr 2013 10:28:54 GMT') == datetime(
-            2013, 4, 4, 10, 28, 54
+            2013, 4, 4, 10, 28, 54, tzinfo=timezone.utc
         )
 
         with pytest.raises(ValueError):
@@ -151,7 +152,7 @@ def test_http_date_to_dt(self):
 
         assert falcon.http_date_to_dt(
             'Thu, 04-Apr-2013 10:28:54 GMT', obs_date=True
-        ) == datetime(2013, 4, 4, 10, 28, 54)
+        ) == datetime(2013, 4, 4, 10, 28, 54, tzinfo=timezone.utc)
 
         with pytest.raises(ValueError):
             falcon.http_date_to_dt('Sun Nov  6 08:49:37 1994')
@@ -161,11 +162,14 @@ def test_http_date_to_dt(self):
 
         assert falcon.http_date_to_dt(
             'Sun Nov  6 08:49:37 1994', obs_date=True
-        ) == datetime(1994, 11, 6, 8, 49, 37)
+        ) == datetime(1994, 11, 6, 8, 49, 37, tzinfo=timezone.utc)
 
         assert falcon.http_date_to_dt(
             'Sunday, 06-Nov-94 08:49:37 GMT', obs_date=True
-        ) == datetime(1994, 11, 6, 8, 49, 37)
+        ) == datetime(1994, 11, 6, 8, 49, 37, tzinfo=timezone.utc)
+
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError):
+            falcon.http_date_to_dt('Thu, 04 Apr 2013 10:28:54 EST')
 
     def test_pack_query_params_none(self):
         assert falcon.to_query_str({}) == ''