diff --git a/meta/conf/machine/include/soc-family.inc b/meta/conf/machine/include/soc-family.inc
index 1ff0899812..cdc7a5a64c 100644
--- a/meta/conf/machine/include/soc-family.inc
+++ b/meta/conf/machine/include/soc-family.inc
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # Add SOC_FAMILY to machine overrides so we get access to e.g. 'omap3' and 'ti335x'
 SOC_FAMILY ??= ""
-MACHINEOVERRIDES =. "${@['', '${SOC_FAMILY}:']['${SOC_FAMILY}' != '']}"
+MACHINEOVERRIDES =. "${@'${SOC_FAMILY}:' if '${SOC_FAMILY}' else '' }"