diff --git a/package/libevent/libevent.mk b/package/libevent/libevent.mk
index 128bb2ac71..5458ce316a 100644
--- a/package/libevent/libevent.mk
+++ b/package/libevent/libevent.mk
@@ -24,13 +24,8 @@ LIBEVENT_POST_INSTALL_TARGET_HOOKS += LIBEVENT_REMOVE_PYSCRIPT
 endif
 
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_OPENSSL),y)
-LIBEVENT_DEPENDENCIES += openssl
+LIBEVENT_DEPENDENCIES += host-pkgconf openssl
 LIBEVENT_CONF_OPTS += --enable-openssl
-# openssl needs zlib but configure forgets to link against it causing
-# openssl detection to fail
-ifeq ($(BR2_STATIC_LIBS),y)
-LIBEVENT_CONF_ENV += OPENSSL_LIBADD='-lz'
-endif
 else
 LIBEVENT_CONF_OPTS += --disable-openssl
 endif