diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 1f26639e4f..5c04e63bab 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -180,6 +180,7 @@ fi
 # some defaults, based on the host environment
 
 # default parameters
+container_engine="auto"
 cpu=""
 cross_compile="no"
 cross_prefix=""
@@ -787,6 +788,8 @@ for opt do
   ;;
   --disable-containers) use_containers="no"
   ;;
+  --container-engine=*) container_engine="$optarg"
+  ;;
   --gdb=*) gdb_bin="$optarg"
   ;;
   # everything else has the same name in configure and meson
@@ -921,6 +924,7 @@ Advanced options (experts only):
   --enable-plugins
                            enable plugins via shared library loading
   --disable-containers     don't use containers for cross-building
+  --container-engine=TYPE  which container engine to use [$container_engine]
   --gdb=GDB-path           gdb to use for gdbstub tests [$gdb_bin]
 EOF
   meson_options_help
@@ -1195,14 +1199,14 @@ fi
 container="no"
 runc=""
 if test $use_containers = "yes" && (has "docker" || has "podman"); then
-    case $($python "$source_path"/tests/docker/docker.py probe) in
+    case $($python "$source_path"/tests/docker/docker.py --engine "$container_engine" probe) in
         *docker) container=docker ;;
         podman) container=podman ;;
         no) container=no ;;
     esac
     if test "$container" != "no"; then
         docker_py="$python $source_path/tests/docker/docker.py --engine $container"
-        runc=$($python "$source_path"/tests/docker/docker.py probe)
+        runc=$container
     fi
 fi