diff --git a/pkgs/applications/virtualization/qemu/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/virtualization/qemu/default.nix
index a8a18692b9ee..4919f95b5a66 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/virtualization/qemu/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/virtualization/qemu/default.nix
@@ -178,6 +178,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     "--enable-guest-agent"
     "--localstatedir=/var"
     "--sysconfdir=/etc"
+    # Always use our Meson, not the bundled version, which doesn't
+    # have our patches and will be subtly broken because of that.
+    "--meson=meson"
   ] ++ lib.optional numaSupport "--enable-numa"
     ++ lib.optional seccompSupport "--enable-seccomp"
     ++ lib.optional smartcardSupport "--enable-smartcard"