diff --git a/package/qemu/Config.in b/package/qemu/Config.in
index 33d4cccd7b..391fd5faaf 100644
--- a/package/qemu/Config.in
+++ b/package/qemu/Config.in
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ comment "Networking options"
 
 config BR2_PACKAGE_QEMU_SLIRP
 	bool "Enable user mode networking (SLIRP)"
+	select BR2_PACKAGE_SLIRP
 	help
 	  Enable user mode network stack, which is the default
 	  networking backend. It requires no administrator privileges
diff --git a/package/qemu/qemu.mk b/package/qemu/qemu.mk
index 69850ec938..2bac96bd66 100644
--- a/package/qemu/qemu.mk
+++ b/package/qemu/qemu.mk
@@ -51,8 +51,10 @@ endif
 
 endif
 
-# There is no "--enable-slirp"
-ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_QEMU_SLIRP),)
+ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_QEMU_SLIRP),y)
+QEMU_OPTS += --enable-slirp=system
+QEMU_DEPENDENCIES += slirp
+else
 QEMU_OPTS += --disable-slirp
 endif