diff --git a/moor/test/data/tables/custom_tables.dart b/moor/test/data/tables/custom_tables.dart
index 027b1735..71e9feb5 100644
--- a/moor/test/data/tables/custom_tables.dart
+++ b/moor/test/data/tables/custom_tables.dart
@@ -2,7 +2,10 @@ import 'package:moor/moor.dart';
 
 part 'custom_tables.g.dart';
 
-@UseMoor(include: {'tables.moor'})
+@UseMoor(
+  include: {'tables.moor'},
+  queries: {'writeConfig': 'REPLACE INTO config VALUES (:key, :value)'},
+)
 class CustomTablesDb extends _$CustomTablesDb {
   CustomTablesDb(QueryExecutor e) : super(e);
 
diff --git a/moor/test/data/tables/custom_tables.g.dart b/moor/test/data/tables/custom_tables.g.dart
index 7a7b75c9..c5d6c701 100644
--- a/moor/test/data/tables/custom_tables.g.dart
+++ b/moor/test/data/tables/custom_tables.g.dart
@@ -812,6 +812,21 @@ abstract class _$CustomTablesDb extends GeneratedDatabase {
   Config get config => _config ??= Config(this);
   Mytable _mytable;
   Mytable get mytable => _mytable ??= Mytable(this);
+  Future<int> writeConfig(
+      String key,
+      String value,
+      {@Deprecated('No longer needed with Moor 1.6 - see the changelog for details')
+          QueryEngine operateOn}) {
+    return (operateOn ?? this).customInsert(
+      'REPLACE INTO config VALUES (:key, :value)',
+      variables: [
+        Variable.withString(key),
+        Variable.withString(value),
+      ],
+      updates: {config},
+    );
+  }
+
   @override
   List<TableInfo> get allTables =>
       [noIds, withDefaults, withConstraints, config, mytable];
diff --git a/moor_generator/lib/src/model/sql_query.dart b/moor_generator/lib/src/model/sql_query.dart
index f5b19cc5..855a934f 100644
--- a/moor_generator/lib/src/model/sql_query.dart
+++ b/moor_generator/lib/src/model/sql_query.dart
@@ -51,9 +51,11 @@ class SqlSelectQuery extends SqlQuery {
 
 class UpdatingQuery extends SqlQuery {
   final List<SpecifiedTable> updates;
+  final bool isInsert;
 
   UpdatingQuery(String name, AnalysisContext fromContext,
-      List<FoundVariable> variables, this.updates)
+      List<FoundVariable> variables, this.updates,
+      {this.isInsert = false})
       : super(name, fromContext, variables);
 }
 
diff --git a/moor_generator/lib/src/parser/sql/affected_tables_visitor.dart b/moor_generator/lib/src/parser/sql/affected_tables_visitor.dart
index 795e6882..39679a66 100644
--- a/moor_generator/lib/src/parser/sql/affected_tables_visitor.dart
+++ b/moor_generator/lib/src/parser/sql/affected_tables_visitor.dart
@@ -52,4 +52,10 @@ class UpdatedTablesVisitor extends RecursiveVisitor<void> {
     _addIfResolved(e.table);
     visitChildren(e);
   }
+
+  @override
+  void visitInsertStatement(InsertStatement e) {
+    _addIfResolved(e.table);
+    visitChildren(e);
+  }
 }
diff --git a/moor_generator/lib/src/parser/sql/query_handler.dart b/moor_generator/lib/src/parser/sql/query_handler.dart
index f93d3e6f..bcea44b3 100644
--- a/moor_generator/lib/src/parser/sql/query_handler.dart
+++ b/moor_generator/lib/src/parser/sql/query_handler.dart
@@ -26,7 +26,9 @@ class QueryHandler {
 
     if (root is SelectStatement) {
       return _handleSelect();
-    } else if (root is UpdateStatement || root is DeleteStatement) {
+    } else if (root is UpdateStatement ||
+        root is DeleteStatement ||
+        root is InsertStatement) {
       return _handleUpdate();
     } else {
       throw StateError(
@@ -39,8 +41,11 @@ class QueryHandler {
     context.root.accept(updatedFinder);
     _foundTables = updatedFinder.foundTables;
 
+    final isInsert = context.root is InsertStatement;
+
     return UpdatingQuery(name, context, _foundVariables,
-        _foundTables.map(mapper.tableToMoor).toList());
+        _foundTables.map(mapper.tableToMoor).toList(),
+        isInsert: isInsert);
   }
 
   SqlSelectQuery _handleSelect() {
diff --git a/moor_generator/lib/src/writer/query_writer.dart b/moor_generator/lib/src/writer/query_writer.dart
index 8c98d325..bf40cd6d 100644
--- a/moor_generator/lib/src/writer/query_writer.dart
+++ b/moor_generator/lib/src/writer/query_writer.dart
@@ -155,6 +155,8 @@ class QueryWriter {
     return customUpdate('', variables: [], updates: {});
   }
      */
+    final implName = _update.isInsert ? 'customInsert' : 'customUpdate';
+
     buffer.write('Future<int> ${query.name}(');
     _writeParameters(buffer);
     buffer.write(') {\n');
@@ -162,7 +164,7 @@ class QueryWriter {
     _writeExpandedDeclarations(buffer);
     buffer
       ..write('return (operateOn ?? this).')
-      ..write('customUpdate(${_queryCode()},');
+      ..write('$implName(${_queryCode()},');
 
     _writeVariables(buffer);
     buffer.write(',');
diff --git a/sqlparser/lib/src/reader/parser/expressions.dart b/sqlparser/lib/src/reader/parser/expressions.dart
index 594f0a6e..bdf6879c 100644
--- a/sqlparser/lib/src/reader/parser/expressions.dart
+++ b/sqlparser/lib/src/reader/parser/expressions.dart
@@ -326,8 +326,10 @@ mixin ExpressionParser on ParserBase {
         break;
       case TokenType.colon:
         final colon = token;
-        final identifier = _consume(TokenType.identifier,
-            'Expected an identifier for the named variable') as IdentifierToken;
+        final identifier = _consumeIdentifier(
+            'Expected an identifier for the named variable',
+            lenient: true);
+
         final content = identifier.identifier;
         return ColonNamedVariable(':$content')..setSpan(colon, identifier);
       default:
@@ -392,6 +394,7 @@ mixin ExpressionParser on ParserBase {
     )..setSpan(name, _previous);
   }
 
+  @override
   TupleExpression _consumeTuple() {
     final firstToken =
         _consume(TokenType.leftParen, 'Expected opening parenthesis for tuple');
diff --git a/sqlparser/lib/src/reader/parser/parser.dart b/sqlparser/lib/src/reader/parser/parser.dart
index 05a39cbd..a47fbc7f 100644
--- a/sqlparser/lib/src/reader/parser/parser.dart
+++ b/sqlparser/lib/src/reader/parser/parser.dart
@@ -123,7 +123,13 @@ abstract class ParserBase {
     _error(message);
   }
 
-  IdentifierToken _consumeIdentifier(String message) {
+  /// Consumes an identifier. If [lenient] is true and the next token is not
+  /// an identifier but rather a [KeywordToken], that token will be converted
+  /// to an identifier.
+  IdentifierToken _consumeIdentifier(String message, {bool lenient = false}) {
+    if (lenient && _peek is KeywordToken) {
+      return (_advance() as KeywordToken).convertToIdentifier();
+    }
     return _consume(TokenType.identifier, message) as IdentifierToken;
   }
 
diff --git a/sqlparser/lib/src/reader/tokenizer/token.dart b/sqlparser/lib/src/reader/tokenizer/token.dart
index ebc12054..65f30733 100644
--- a/sqlparser/lib/src/reader/tokenizer/token.dart
+++ b/sqlparser/lib/src/reader/tokenizer/token.dart
@@ -268,6 +268,11 @@ class IdentifierToken extends Token {
   /// Whether this identifier was escaped by putting it in "double ticks".
   final bool escaped;
 
+  /// Whether this identifier token is synthetic. We sometimes convert
+  /// [KeywordToken]s to identifiers if they're unambiguous, in which case
+  /// [synthetic] will be true on this token because it was not scanned as such.
+  final bool synthetic;
+
   String get identifier {
     if (escaped) {
       return lexeme.substring(1, lexeme.length - 1);
@@ -276,7 +281,7 @@ class IdentifierToken extends Token {
     }
   }
 
-  const IdentifierToken(this.escaped, FileSpan span)
+  const IdentifierToken(this.escaped, FileSpan span, {this.synthetic = false})
       : super(TokenType.identifier, span);
 }
 
@@ -295,7 +300,16 @@ class InlineDartToken extends Token {
 /// additional properties to ease syntax highlighting, as it allows us to find
 /// the keywords easily.
 class KeywordToken extends Token {
+  /// Whether this token has been used as an identifier while parsing.
+  bool isIdentifier;
+
   KeywordToken(TokenType type, FileSpan span) : super(type, span);
+
+  IdentifierToken convertToIdentifier() {
+    isIdentifier = true;
+
+    return IdentifierToken(false, span, synthetic: false);
+  }
 }
 
 class TokenizerError {