diff --git a/controllers/nginx/Makefile b/controllers/nginx/Makefile
index d96b60c14..dd6944501 100644
--- a/controllers/nginx/Makefile
+++ b/controllers/nginx/Makefile
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ endif
 #        QEMUARCH=s390x
 #endif
 
-TEMP_DIR := $(shell mktemp -d)
+TEMP_DIR ?= $(shell mktemp -d)
 
 all: all-container