diff --git a/packages/tools/grub/package.mk b/packages/tools/grub/package.mk
index cd3fe52521..9d87cc7076 100755
--- a/packages/tools/grub/package.mk
+++ b/packages/tools/grub/package.mk
@@ -46,6 +46,13 @@ pre_configure_target() {
 
   mkdir -p .${TARGET_NAME}
     cd .${TARGET_NAME}
+
+  # configure requires explicit TARGET_PREFIX binaries when cross compiling.
+  export TARGET_CC="${TARGET_PREFIX}gcc"
+  export TARGET_OBJCOPY="${TARGET_PREFIX}objcopy"
+  export TARGET_STRIP="${TARGET_PREFIX}strip"
+  export TARGET_NM="${TARGET_PREFIX}nm"
+  export TARGET_RANLIB="${TARGET_PREFIX}ranlib"
 }
 
 make_target() {