diff --git a/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube.py b/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube.py
index caa99182ae..e6bb7891d9 100644
--- a/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube.py
+++ b/yt_dlp/extractor/youtube.py
@@ -644,14 +644,13 @@ class YoutubeBaseInfoExtractor(InfoExtractor):
         YoutubeBaseInfoExtractor._OAUTH_ACCESS_TOKEN_CACHE[self._OAUTH_PROFILE] = {}
 
         if refresh_token:
-            msg = f'{self._OAUTH_DISPLAY_ID}: Using password input as refresh token'
-            if self.get_param('cachedir') is not False:
-                msg += ' and caching token to disk; you should supply an empty password next time'
-            self.to_screen(msg)
-            self.cache.store(self._NETRC_MACHINE, self._oauth_cache_key, refresh_token)
-        else:
-            refresh_token = self.cache.load(self._NETRC_MACHINE, self._oauth_cache_key)
+            refresh_token = refresh_token.strip('\'') or None
 
+        # Allow refresh token passed to initialize cache
+        if refresh_token:
+            self.cache.store(self._NETRC_MACHINE, self._oauth_cache_key, refresh_token)
+
+        refresh_token = refresh_token or self.cache.load(self._NETRC_MACHINE, self._oauth_cache_key)
         if refresh_token:
             YoutubeBaseInfoExtractor._OAUTH_ACCESS_TOKEN_CACHE[self._OAUTH_PROFILE]['refresh_token'] = refresh_token
             try: