rspec_raise_error_spec.rb

class ErrorHandler
  def foo
    potential_error
  rescue StandardError
    puts 'An error was handled'
  end
end

RSpec.describe do
  let(:instance) { ErrorHandler.new }

  example 'raising then not raising an exception' do
    allow(instance).to receive(:potential_error).and_raise StandardError
    allow(instance).to receive(:potential_error).and_return true
    expect(instance).to receive(:puts)
    instance.foo
    instance.foo
  end
end


# Failures:

#   1)  raising then not raising an exception
#     Failure/Error: expect(instance).to receive(:puts)

#       (#<ErrorHandler:0x00560c41e27400>).puts(*(any args))
#           expected: 1 time with any arguments
#           received: 0 times with any arguments
#     # ./rspec.rb:15:in `block (2 levels) in <top (required)>'

# Finished in 0.00458 seconds (files took 0.09087 seconds to load)
# 1 example, 1 failure

Sorry for leading you astray :(. You can achieve this by passing a block:

raise_error = true
allow(instance).to receive(:potential_error) do
  if raise_error
    raise_error = false
    raise "boom"
  end

  true
end

Ah yes, perfect! Thank you :)