diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/73599-ansible-test-new-plugin-dirs.yml b/changelogs/fragments/73599-ansible-test-new-plugin-dirs.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..73db1b2ab21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/73599-ansible-test-new-plugin-dirs.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+minor_changes:
+- "ansible-test - add the collection plugin directories ``plugin_utils`` and ``sub_plugins`` to list of plugin types. This ensures such plugins are tested for the ``import`` sanity test (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/73599)."
diff --git a/test/lib/ansible_test/_internal/provider/layout/__init__.py b/test/lib/ansible_test/_internal/provider/layout/__init__.py
index 81fd135d0f3..8065c64e0b7 100644
--- a/test/lib/ansible_test/_internal/provider/layout/__init__.py
+++ b/test/lib/ansible_test/_internal/provider/layout/__init__.py
@@ -193,6 +193,10 @@ class LayoutProvider(PathProvider):
         'terminal',
         'test',
         'vars',
+        # The following are plugin directories not directly supported by ansible-core, but used in collections
+        # (https://github.com/ansible-collections/overview/blob/main/collection_requirements.rst#modules--plugins)
+        'plugin_utils',
+        'sub_plugins',
     )
 
     @abc.abstractmethod
diff --git a/test/lib/ansible_test/_internal/sanity/ansible_doc.py b/test/lib/ansible_test/_internal/sanity/ansible_doc.py
index 30140cffc61..fc4c42f881b 100644
--- a/test/lib/ansible_test/_internal/sanity/ansible_doc.py
+++ b/test/lib/ansible_test/_internal/sanity/ansible_doc.py
@@ -58,6 +58,10 @@ class AnsibleDocTest(SanitySingleVersion):
             'module_utils',
             'terminal',
             'test',
+            # The following are plugin directories not directly supported by ansible-core (and thus also not by ansible-doc)
+            # (https://github.com/ansible-collections/overview/blob/main/collection_requirements.rst#modules--plugins)
+            'plugin_utils',
+            'sub_plugins',
         ])
 
         plugin_paths = [plugin_path for plugin_type, plugin_path in data_context().content.plugin_paths.items() if plugin_type not in unsupported_plugin_types]