diff --git a/package/perl-net-ssleay/perl-net-ssleay.mk b/package/perl-net-ssleay/perl-net-ssleay.mk
index 9e9b8a7b97..b17975c431 100644
--- a/package/perl-net-ssleay/perl-net-ssleay.mk
+++ b/package/perl-net-ssleay/perl-net-ssleay.mk
@@ -15,10 +15,11 @@ PERL_NET_SSLEAY_LICENSE_FILES = LICENSE
 # suffers from: don't search for openssl, they pick the host-system one.
 PERL_NET_SSLEAY_CONF_ENV = OPENSSL_PREFIX=$(STAGING_DIR)/usr
 
-# Remove problematic single quotes in LDDLFLAGS & CCFLAGS definition
+# Remove problematic single quotes in LDDLFLAGS, CCFLAGS & OPTIMIZE definition
 define PERL_NET_SSLEAY_FIX_MAKEFILE
 	$(SED) "s/^LDDLFLAGS = '\(.*\)'/LDDLFLAGS = \1/" $(@D)/Makefile
 	$(SED) "s/^CCFLAGS = '\(.*\)'/CCFLAGS = \1/" $(@D)/Makefile
+	$(SED) "s/^OPTIMIZE = '\(.*\)'/OPTIMIZE = \1/" $(@D)/Makefile
 endef
 PERL_NET_SSLEAY_POST_CONFIGURE_HOOKS += PERL_NET_SSLEAY_FIX_MAKEFILE