A process for preparing acrolein or acrylic acid or a mixture thereof from propane, in which the propane is initially dehydrogenated under heterogeneous catalysis to give propene, secondary components are removed and the remaining gas mixture, comprising propane and propene, is subjected to the heterogeneously catalyzed partial oxidation to acrolein or acrylic acid or a mixture thereof as the target product, target product is removed from the product gas mixture and the remaining residual gas, comprising excess oxygen and unconverted propane, is recycled into the propane dehydrogenation in such a way that the other propane fed to the dehydrogenation is at least partly converted under dehydrogenating conditions at the recycle point.