diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index d41bf1601fb..5834df883b0 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ GTEST_FILTER ?= "*"
 GNUMAKEFLAGS += --no-print-directory
 GCOV ?= gcov
 PWD = $(CURDIR)
+BUILD_WITH ?= make
 
 ifdef JOBS
   PARALLEL_ARGS = -j $(JOBS)
@@ -95,6 +96,7 @@ help: ## Print help for targets with comments.
 # Without the check there is a race condition between the link being deleted
 # and recreated which can break the addons build when running test-ci
 # See comments on the build-addons target for some more info
+ifeq ($(BUILD_WITH), make)
 $(NODE_EXE): config.gypi out/Makefile
 	$(MAKE) -C out BUILDTYPE=Release V=$(V)
 	if [ ! -r $@ -o ! -L $@ ]; then ln -fs out/Release/$(NODE_EXE) $@; fi
@@ -102,6 +104,29 @@ $(NODE_EXE): config.gypi out/Makefile
 $(NODE_G_EXE): config.gypi out/Makefile
 	$(MAKE) -C out BUILDTYPE=Debug V=$(V)
 	if [ ! -r $@ -o ! -L $@ ]; then ln -fs out/Debug/$(NODE_EXE) $@; fi
+else
+ifeq ($(BUILD_WITH), ninja)
+ifeq ($(V),1)
+  NINJA_ARGS := $(NINJA_ARGS) -v
+endif
+ifdef JOBS
+  NINJA_ARGS := $(NINJA_ARGS) -j$(JOBS)
+else
+  NINJA_ARGS := $(NINJA_ARGS) $(filter -j%,$(MAKEFLAGS))
+endif
+$(NODE_EXE): config.gypi out/Release/build.ninja
+	ninja -C out/Release $(NINJA_ARGS)
+	if [ ! -r $@ -o ! -L $@ ]; then ln -fs out/Release/$(NODE_EXE) $@; fi
+
+$(NODE_G_EXE): config.gypi out/Debug/build.ninja
+	ninja -C out/Debug $(NINJA_ARGS)
+	if [ ! -r $@ -o ! -L $@ ]; then ln -fs out/Debug/$(NODE_EXE) $@; fi
+else
+$(NODE_EXE) $(NODE_G_EXE):
+	echo This Makefile currently only supports building with 'make' or 'ninja'
+endif
+endif
+
 
 ifeq ($(BUILDTYPE),Debug)
 CONFIG_FLAGS += --debug
diff --git a/configure.py b/configure.py
index 1dd6da6d2b9..15ea5687cf1 100755
--- a/configure.py
+++ b/configure.py
@@ -1627,23 +1627,35 @@ write('config.status', '#!/bin/sh\nset -x\nexec ./configure ' +
       ' '.join([pipes.quote(arg) for arg in original_argv]) + '\n')
 os.chmod('config.status', 0o775)
 
+
 config = {
   'BUILDTYPE': 'Debug' if options.debug else 'Release',
-  'PYTHON': sys.executable,
   'NODE_TARGET_TYPE': variables['node_target_type'],
 }
 
+# Not needed for trivial case. Useless when it's a win32 path.
+if sys.executable != 'python' and ':\\' not in sys.executable:
+  config['PYTHON'] = sys.executable
+
 if options.prefix:
   config['PREFIX'] = options.prefix
 
-config = '\n'.join(['='.join(item) for item in config.items()]) + '\n'
+if options.use_ninja:
+  config['BUILD_WITH'] = 'ninja'
+
+config_lines = ['='.join((k,v)) for k,v in config.items()]
+# Add a blank string to get a blank line at the end.
+config_lines += ['']
+config_str = '\n'.join(config_lines)
 
 # On Windows there's no reason to search for a different python binary.
 bin_override = None if sys.platform == 'win32' else make_bin_override()
 if bin_override:
-  config = 'export PATH:=' + bin_override + ':$(PATH)\n' + config
+  config_str = 'export PATH:=' + bin_override + ':$(PATH)\n' + config_str
+
+write('config.mk', do_not_edit + config_str)
+
 
-write('config.mk', do_not_edit + config)
 
 gyp_args = ['--no-parallel', '-Dconfiguring_node=1']