diff --git a/docs/manual/adding-packages-meson.txt b/docs/manual/adding-packages-meson.txt
index c52fe10506..549319b192 100644
--- a/docs/manual/adding-packages-meson.txt
+++ b/docs/manual/adding-packages-meson.txt
@@ -94,3 +94,6 @@ will therefore only use a few of them.
 * +FOO_NINJA_ENV+, to specify additional environment variables to pass to
   +ninja+, meson companion tool in charge of the build operations. By default,
   empty.
+
+* +FOO_NINJA_OPTS+, to specify a space-separated list of targets to build. By
+  default, empty, to build the default target(s).
diff --git a/package/pkg-meson.mk b/package/pkg-meson.mk
index 507e686068..0588660dbf 100644
--- a/package/pkg-meson.mk
+++ b/package/pkg-meson.mk
@@ -103,12 +103,12 @@ ifndef $(2)_BUILD_CMDS
 ifeq ($(4),target)
 define $(2)_BUILD_CMDS
 	$$(TARGET_MAKE_ENV) $$($$(PKG)_NINJA_ENV) \
-		$$(NINJA) $$(NINJA_OPTS) -C $$($$(PKG)_SRCDIR)/build
+		$$(NINJA) $$(NINJA_OPTS) $$($$(PKG)_NINJA_OPTS) -C $$($$(PKG)_SRCDIR)/build
 endef
 else
 define $(2)_BUILD_CMDS
 	$$(HOST_MAKE_ENV) $$($$(PKG)_NINJA_ENV) \
-		$$(NINJA) $$(NINJA_OPTS) -C $$($$(PKG)_SRCDIR)/build
+		$$(NINJA) $$(NINJA_OPTS) $$($$(PKG)_NINJA_OPTS) -C $$($$(PKG)_SRCDIR)/build
 endef
 endif
 endif