diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 04bcd70a73..749b83bd6e 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -1562,15 +1562,6 @@ if test "$opengl" != "no" ; then
   QEMU_CFLAGS="$QEMU_CFLAGS $opengl_cflags"
 fi # test "$opengl" != "no"
 
-##########################################
-# openssl probe
-if $pkg_config --exists openssl; then
-    openssl_cflags=$($pkg_config --cflags openssl)
-    openssl_libs=$($pkg_config --libs openssl)
-else
-    feature_not_found "openssl" "Install openssl-dev"
-fi
-
 ##########################################
 # libpcap probe
 if test "$mingw32" = "yes"; then
@@ -2435,9 +2426,6 @@ if test "$have_tsan" = "yes" && test "$have_tsan_iface_fiber" = "yes" ; then
     echo "CONFIG_TSAN=y" >> $config_host_mak
 fi
 
-echo "OPENSSL_CFLAGS=$openssl_cflags" >> $config_host_mak
-echo "OPENSSL_LIBS=$openssl_libs" >> $config_host_mak
-
 echo "LIBPCAP_CFLAGS=$libpcap_cflags" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "LIBPCAP_LIBS=$libpcap_libs" >> $config_host_mak
 
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index f385577519..a07c2378d1 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -1181,8 +1181,10 @@ toml = declare_dependency(compile_args: ['-DTOML_HEADER_ONLY=0'],
 
 genconfig = declare_dependency(include_directories: 'genconfig')
 
-openssl = declare_dependency(compile_args: config_host['OPENSSL_CFLAGS'].split(),
-                             link_args: config_host['OPENSSL_LIBS'].split())
+openssl = dependency('openssl',
+                     method: 'pkg-config',
+                     required: true,
+                     kwargs: static_kwargs)
 
 libpcap = declare_dependency(compile_args: config_host['LIBPCAP_CFLAGS'].split(),
                              link_args: config_host['LIBPCAP_LIBS'].split())