diff --git a/boot/uboot/Config.in b/boot/uboot/Config.in
index d46a757680..fabf27db73 100644
--- a/boot/uboot/Config.in
+++ b/boot/uboot/Config.in
@@ -137,6 +137,14 @@ config BR2_TARGET_UBOOT_NEEDS_DTC
 	  Select this option if your U-Boot board configuration
 	  requires the Device Tree compiler to be available.
 
+config BR2_TARGET_UBOOT_NEEDS_OPENSSL
+	bool "U-Boot needs OpenSSL"
+	help
+	  Select this option if your U-Boot board configuration
+	  requires OpenSSL to be available on the host. This is
+	  typically the case when the board configuration has
+	  CONFIG_FIT_SIGNATURE enabled.
+
 menu "U-Boot binary format"
 
 config BR2_TARGET_UBOOT_FORMAT_AIS
diff --git a/boot/uboot/uboot.mk b/boot/uboot/uboot.mk
index 86e5b84d90..ae7539d512 100644
--- a/boot/uboot/uboot.mk
+++ b/boot/uboot/uboot.mk
@@ -133,6 +133,10 @@ ifeq ($(BR2_TARGET_UBOOT_NEEDS_DTC),y)
 UBOOT_DEPENDENCIES += host-dtc
 endif
 
+ifeq ($(BR2_TARGET_UBOOT_NEEDS_OPENSSL),y)
+UBOOT_DEPENDENCIES += host-openssl
+endif
+
 # prior to u-boot 2013.10 the license info was in COPYING. Copy it so
 # legal-info finds it
 define UBOOT_COPY_OLD_LICENSE_FILE