diff --git a/controllers/nginx/Makefile b/controllers/nginx/Makefile
index 4aebd4ac2..8fca2bc1b 100644
--- a/controllers/nginx/Makefile
+++ b/controllers/nginx/Makefile
@@ -54,7 +54,9 @@ endif
 #        QEMUARCH=s390x
 #endif
 
-TEMP_DIR := $(shell mktemp -d)
+ifndef TEMP_DIR
+  TEMP_DIR := $(shell mktemp -d)
+endif
 
 DOCKERFILE := $(TEMP_DIR)/rootfs/Dockerfile