diff --git a/attributes/passenger.rb b/attributes/passenger.rb
index 89110e3e2..361b142e0 100644
--- a/attributes/passenger.rb
+++ b/attributes/passenger.rb
@@ -33,6 +33,9 @@
   node.default['nginx']['passenger']['ruby'] = '/usr/bin/ruby'
 end
 
+node.default['nginx']['passenger']['packages']['rhel'] = %w[ruby-devel curl-devel]
+node.default['nginx']['passenger']['packages']['debian'] = %w[ruby-dev libcurl4-gnutls-dev]
+
 node.default['nginx']['passenger']['spawn_method'] = 'smart-lv2'
 node.default['nginx']['passenger']['buffer_response'] = 'on'
 node.default['nginx']['passenger']['max_pool_size'] = 6
diff --git a/recipes/passenger.rb b/recipes/passenger.rb
index 36f2d6561..5b6cfbf4e 100644
--- a/recipes/passenger.rb
+++ b/recipes/passenger.rb
@@ -18,12 +18,14 @@
 #
 
 packages = value_for_platform_family(
-  %w[rhel]   => %w[ruby-devel curl-devel],
-  %w[debian] => %w[ruby-dev libcurl4-gnutls-dev]
+  %w[rhel]   => node['nginx']['passenger']['packages']['rhel'],
+  %w[debian] => node['nginx']['passenger']['packages']['debian']
 )
 
-packages.each do |name|
-  package name
+unless packages.empty?
+  packages.each do |name|
+    package name
+  end
 end
 
 gem_package 'rake'