diff --git a/package/binutils/Config.in b/package/binutils/Config.in
index e17a8ec65a..5e1a769998 100644
--- a/package/binutils/Config.in
+++ b/package/binutils/Config.in
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_BINUTILS
 	bool "binutils"
 	depends on !BR2_nios2
 	depends on BR2_USE_WCHAR
+	select BR2_PACKAGE_ZLIB
 	help
 	  Install binutils on the target
 
diff --git a/package/binutils/binutils.mk b/package/binutils/binutils.mk
index bfad25422d..13f61be035 100644
--- a/package/binutils/binutils.mk
+++ b/package/binutils/binutils.mk
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ BINUTILS_SITE ?= $(BR2_GNU_MIRROR)/binutils
 BINUTILS_SOURCE ?= binutils-$(BINUTILS_VERSION).tar.xz
 BINUTILS_EXTRA_CONFIG_OPTIONS = $(call qstrip,$(BR2_BINUTILS_EXTRA_CONFIG_OPTIONS))
 BINUTILS_INSTALL_STAGING = YES
-BINUTILS_DEPENDENCIES = $(TARGET_NLS_DEPENDENCIES)
+BINUTILS_DEPENDENCIES = zlib $(TARGET_NLS_DEPENDENCIES)
 BINUTILS_MAKE_OPTS = LIBS=$(TARGET_NLS_LIBS)
 BINUTILS_LICENSE = GPL-3.0+, libiberty LGPL-2.1+
 BINUTILS_LICENSE_FILES = COPYING3 COPYING.LIB
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ BINUTILS_CONF_OPTS = \
 	--target=$(GNU_TARGET_NAME) \
 	--enable-install-libiberty \
 	--enable-build-warnings=no \
+	--with-system-zlib \
 	$(BINUTILS_DISABLE_GDB_CONF_OPTS) \
 	$(BINUTILS_EXTRA_CONFIG_OPTIONS)
 
@@ -74,10 +75,6 @@ ifeq ($(BR2_ARM_CPU_ARMV7M)$(BR2_OPTIMIZE_S),yy)
 BINUTILS_CONF_ENV += CFLAGS="$(TARGET_CFLAGS) -O2"
 endif
 
-ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_ZLIB),y)
-BINUTILS_DEPENDENCIES += zlib
-endif
-
 # "host" binutils should actually be "cross"
 # We just keep the convention of "host utility" for now
 HOST_BINUTILS_CONF_OPTS = \