Extreme droughts that occur over multiple years are expected to occur more frequently. Historic examples of such events include the 1930's Dust Bowl, where widespread impacts on grassland ecosystems were observed and ecosystem recovery took multiple decades. Understanding is limited on what may limit recovery after prolonged and extreme drought events. Our goal was to assess post-drought recovery and how it is influenced by resource availability. We examined this by manipulating water availability for three years after an experimental four-year, extreme drought. We found that resource availability did not influence post-drought ecosystem recovery. Instead, the invasion of annual forbs resulted in recovery of aboveground productivity, but the loss of the dominant C4 grasses constrained recovery of the plant communities. We conclude that how the plant community changes post-drought, rather than availability of resources, strongly influences ecosystem recovery after such profoundly impactful events.