diff --git a/meta/classes-recipe/cython.bbclass b/meta/classes-recipe/cython.bbclass
index f37ebeb23fe..53b84f5f5eb 100644
--- a/meta/classes-recipe/cython.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes-recipe/cython.bbclass
@@ -7,5 +7,5 @@ do_compile[postfuncs] = "strip_cython_metadata"
 strip_cython_metadata() {
     # Remove the Cython Metadata headers that we don't need after the build, and
     # may contain build paths.
-    find ${S} -name "*.c" -print0 | xargs -0 sed -i -e "/BEGIN: Cython Metadata/,/END: Cython Metadata/d"
+    find ${S} -name "*.c" -print0 | xargs --no-run-if-empty --null sed -i -e "/BEGIN: Cython Metadata/,/END: Cython Metadata/d"
 }