diff --git a/arduino/builder/preprocessor/gcc.go b/arduino/builder/preprocessor/gcc.go
index 0345d475900..476c1f2f5b4 100644
--- a/arduino/builder/preprocessor/gcc.go
+++ b/arduino/builder/preprocessor/gcc.go
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ func GCC(sourceFilePath *paths.Path, targetFilePath *paths.Path, includes paths.
 	}
 
 	commandLine := gccBuildProperties.ExpandPropsInString(pattern)
+	commandLine = properties.DeleteUnexpandedPropsFromString(commandLine)
 	args, err := properties.SplitQuotedString(commandLine, `"'`, false)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, nil, err