diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 3c7a5cbe25..f583839755 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ notifications:
 env:
   global:
     - TEST_CMD="make check"
+    - MAKEFLAGS="-j3"
   matrix:
     - CONFIG=""
     - CONFIG="--enable-debug --enable-debug-tcg --enable-trace-backends=log"
@@ -64,7 +65,7 @@ before_install:
 before_script:
   - ./configure ${CONFIG}
 script:
-  - make -j3 && ${TEST_CMD}
+  - make ${MAKEFLAGS} && ${TEST_CMD}
 matrix:
   include:
     # Test with CLang for compile portability