diff --git a/recipes/freetype/recipe.sh b/recipes/freetype/recipe.sh
index 33660c48d..74c561754 100644
--- a/recipes/freetype/recipe.sh
+++ b/recipes/freetype/recipe.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 VERSION=2.9
 TAR=https://download.savannah.gnu.org/releases/freetype/freetype-$VERSION.tar.gz
+BUILD_DEPENDS=(zlib)
 
 function recipe_version {
     echo "$VERSION"