diff --git a/package/pkg-generic.mk b/package/pkg-generic.mk
index 65ab8c63d..00f1cb31d 100644
--- a/package/pkg-generic.mk
+++ b/package/pkg-generic.mk
@@ -541,7 +541,11 @@ endif # SITE_METHOD
 
 # $(firstword) is used here because the extractor can have arguments, like
 # ZCAT="gzip -d -c", and to check for the dependency we only want 'gzip'.
+# Do not add xzcat to the list of required dependencies, as it gets built
+# automatically if it isn't found.
+ifneq ($(call suitable-extractor,$($(2)_SOURCE)),$(XZCAT))
 DL_TOOLS_DEPENDENCIES += $(firstword $(call suitable-extractor,$($(2)_SOURCE)))
+endif
 
 endif # $(2)_KCONFIG_VAR
 endef # inner-generic-package
diff --git a/support/dependencies/check-host-xzcat.mk b/support/dependencies/check-host-xzcat.mk
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..24286ef5c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/support/dependencies/check-host-xzcat.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+# XZCAT is taken from BR2_XZCAT (defaults to 'xzcat') (see Makefile)
+# If it is not present, build our own host-xzcat
+
+ifeq (,$(call suitable-host-package,xzcat,$(XZCAT)))
+  DEPENDENCIES_HOST_PREREQ += host-xz
+  XZCAT = $(HOST_DIR)/usr/bin/xzcat
+endif
diff --git a/support/dependencies/check-host-xzcat.sh b/support/dependencies/check-host-xzcat.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..10f1c4562
--- /dev/null
+++ b/support/dependencies/check-host-xzcat.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+candidate="$1"
+
+xzcat=`which $candidate 2>/dev/null`
+if [ ! -x "$xzcat" ]; then
+	xzcat=`which xzcat 2>/dev/null`
+	if [ ! -x "$xzcat" ]; then
+		# echo nothing: no suitable xzcat found
+		exit 1
+	fi
+fi
+
+echo $xzcat