diff --git a/boards/arm/qemu_cortex_r5/board.cmake b/boards/arm/qemu_cortex_r5/board.cmake
index 00d0afa9a85..a30e4f7144c 100644
--- a/boards/arm/qemu_cortex_r5/board.cmake
+++ b/boards/arm/qemu_cortex_r5/board.cmake
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ set(QEMU_FLAGS_${ARCH}
   )
 
 set(QEMU_KERNEL_OPTION
-  "-device;loader,file=$<TARGET_FILE:zephyr_final>,cpu-num=4"
+  "-device;loader,file=\$<TARGET_FILE:\${logical_target_for_zephyr_elf}>,cpu-num=4"
   "-device;loader,addr=0xff5e023c,data=0x80008fde,data-len=4"
   "-device;loader,addr=0xff9a0000,data=0x80000218,data-len=4"
   )
diff --git a/cmake/emu/qemu.cmake b/cmake/emu/qemu.cmake
index 2378927a25b..ae63ccbb96e 100644
--- a/cmake/emu/qemu.cmake
+++ b/cmake/emu/qemu.cmake
@@ -298,6 +298,8 @@ if(DEFINED QEMU_KERNEL_FILE)
   set(QEMU_KERNEL_OPTION "-kernel;${QEMU_KERNEL_FILE}")
 elseif(NOT DEFINED QEMU_KERNEL_OPTION)
   set(QEMU_KERNEL_OPTION "-kernel;$<TARGET_FILE:${logical_target_for_zephyr_elf}>")
+elseif(DEFINED QEMU_KERNEL_OPTION)
+  string(CONFIGURE "${QEMU_KERNEL_OPTION}" QEMU_KERNEL_OPTION)
 endif()
 
 foreach(target ${qemu_targets})