diff --git a/package/nftables/Config.in b/package/nftables/Config.in
index 833a3a38a2..514682ec48 100644
--- a/package/nftables/Config.in
+++ b/package/nftables/Config.in
@@ -13,9 +13,14 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_NFTABLES
 
 	  http://www.netfilter.org/projects/nftables/index.html
 
-# Legacy: this used to be handled in nftables.mk
 if BR2_PACKAGE_NFTABLES
+# Legacy: this used to be handled in nftables.mk
 source "package/nftables/nftables-python/Config.in"
+
+config BR2_PACKAGE_NFTABLES_JSON
+	bool "json support"
+	select BR2_PACKAGE_JANSSON
+
 endif
 
 comment "nftables needs a toolchain w/ wchar, headers >= 3.12"
diff --git a/package/nftables/nftables.mk b/package/nftables/nftables.mk
index 380e553cde..f6e6a64efd 100644
--- a/package/nftables/nftables.mk
+++ b/package/nftables/nftables.mk
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ else
 NFTABLES_CONF_OPTS += --without-cli
 endif
 
-ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_JANSSON),y)
+ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_NFTABLES_JSON),y)
 NFTABLES_DEPENDENCIES += jansson
 NFTABLES_CONF_OPTS += --with-json
 else