diff --git a/include/kernel-defaults.mk b/include/kernel-defaults.mk
index f55ea8a844..c18d638337 100644
--- a/include/kernel-defaults.mk
+++ b/include/kernel-defaults.mk
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ KERNEL_MAKEOPTS := -C $(LINUX_DIR) \
 	ARCH="$(LINUX_KARCH)" \
 	KBUILD_HAVE_NLS=no \
 	CONFIG_SHELL="$(BASH)" \
-	$(if $(findstring c,$(OPENWRT_VERBOSE)),V=1)
+	$(if $(findstring c,$(OPENWRT_VERBOSE)),V=1,V='')
 
 ifdef CONFIG_STRIP_KERNEL_EXPORTS
   KERNEL_MAKEOPTS += \