diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/me/meson/setup-hook.sh b/pkgs/by-name/me/meson/setup-hook.sh
index b2061a12058c..1885265eabbf 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/me/meson/setup-hook.sh
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/me/meson/setup-hook.sh
@@ -58,6 +58,14 @@ mesonCheckPhase() {
         flagsArray+=("--timeout-multiplier=0")
     fi
 
+    # Parallel building is enabled by default.
+    local buildCores=1
+    if [ "${enableParallelBuilding-1}" ]; then
+        buildCores="$NIX_BUILD_CORES"
+    fi
+
+    TERM=dumb ninja -j"$buildCores" $ninjaFlags "${ninjaFlagsArray[@]}" meson-test-prereq
+
     echoCmd 'mesonCheckPhase flags' "${flagsArray[@]}"
     meson test --no-rebuild --print-errorlogs "${flagsArray[@]}"