diff --git a/bin/ruby-build b/bin/ruby-build
index fa35569b..534f3ab1 100755
--- a/bin/ruby-build
+++ b/bin/ruby-build
@@ -411,7 +411,7 @@ build_package_standard() {
   ) >&4 2>&1
 
   { "$MAKE" $MAKE_OPTS ${!PACKAGE_MAKE_OPTS} "${!PACKAGE_MAKE_OPTS_ARRAY}"
-    "$MAKE" $MAKE_INSTALL_OPTS install ${!PACKAGE_MAKE_INSTALL_OPTS} "${!PACKAGE_MAKE_INSTALL_OPTS_ARRAY}"
+    "$MAKE" install $MAKE_INSTALL_OPTS ${!PACKAGE_MAKE_INSTALL_OPTS} "${!PACKAGE_MAKE_INSTALL_OPTS_ARRAY}"
   } >&4 2>&1
 }
 
diff --git a/test/build.bats b/test/build.bats
index 3b91d8b8..f1660a66 100644
--- a/test/build.bats
+++ b/test/build.bats
@@ -239,6 +239,26 @@ make install DOGE="such wow"
 OUT
 }
 
+@test "setting MAKE_INSTALL_OPTS to a multi-word string" {
+  cached_tarball "ruby-2.0.0"
+
+  stub_make_install
+
+  export MAKE_INSTALL_OPTS="DOGE=\"such wow\""
+  run_inline_definition <<DEF
+install_package "ruby-2.0.0" "http://ruby-lang.org/ruby/2.0/ruby-2.0.0.tar.gz"
+DEF
+  assert_success
+
+  unstub make
+
+  assert_build_log <<OUT
+ruby-2.0.0: --prefix=$INSTALL_ROOT
+make -j 2
+make install DOGE="such wow"
+OUT
+}
+
 @test "custom relative install destination" {
   export RUBY_BUILD_CACHE_PATH="$FIXTURE_ROOT"