diff --git a/meta-zephyr-core/recipes-kernel/zephyr-kernel/zephyr-kernel-common.inc b/meta-zephyr-core/recipes-kernel/zephyr-kernel/zephyr-kernel-common.inc
index 5c9d9e5..ba70a29 100644
--- a/meta-zephyr-core/recipes-kernel/zephyr-kernel/zephyr-kernel-common.inc
+++ b/meta-zephyr-core/recipes-kernel/zephyr-kernel/zephyr-kernel-common.inc
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ inherit ${ZEPHYR_INHERIT_CLASSES}
 # filesystem.
 IMAGE_NO_MANIFEST = "1"
 
-ZEPHYR_TOOLCHAIN_VARIANT ?= "yocto"
+ZEPHYR_TOOLCHAIN_VARIANT ?= "cross-compile"
 require zephyr-toolchain-${ZEPHYR_TOOLCHAIN_VARIANT}.inc
 
 ZEPHYR_MAKE_OUTPUT = "zephyr.elf"
diff --git a/meta-zephyr-core/recipes-kernel/zephyr-kernel/zephyr-toolchain-cross-compile.inc b/meta-zephyr-core/recipes-kernel/zephyr-kernel/zephyr-toolchain-cross-compile.inc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2f1ea37
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meta-zephyr-core/recipes-kernel/zephyr-kernel/zephyr-toolchain-cross-compile.inc
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+# Additional definitions to use the cross-compile toolchain
+
+CROSS_COMPILE = "${STAGING_BINDIR_TOOLCHAIN}/${TARGET_PREFIX}"
+SYSROOT_DIR="${STAGING_DIR_TARGET}"
+
+EXTRA_OECMAKE:append = " \
+    -DCROSS_COMPILE=${CROSS_COMPILE} \
+    -DSYSROOT_DIR=${SYSROOT_DIR} \
+    "
+
+OE_TERMINAL_EXPORTS += "CROSS_COMPILE"
+OE_TERMINAL_EXPORTS += "SYSROOT_DIR"