diff --git a/subsys/bluetooth/controller/CMakeLists.txt b/subsys/bluetooth/controller/CMakeLists.txt
index 42008750d6d..a2fb0d22508 100644
--- a/subsys/bluetooth/controller/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/subsys/bluetooth/controller/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -21,6 +21,10 @@ zephyr_library_sources(
   ll_sw/ll_addr.c
   ll_sw/ull.c
   ll_sw/lll_common.c
+  )
+
+zephyr_library_sources_ifdef(
+  CONFIG_BT_CTLR_HCI
   hci/hci_driver.c
   hci/hci.c
   )
diff --git a/subsys/bluetooth/controller/Kconfig b/subsys/bluetooth/controller/Kconfig
index 11dc46dcc83..dc7143bc7f5 100644
--- a/subsys/bluetooth/controller/Kconfig
+++ b/subsys/bluetooth/controller/Kconfig
@@ -124,6 +124,14 @@ config BT_LL_SW_SPLIT
 
 endchoice
 
+config BT_CTLR_HCI
+	bool "Host Controller Interface (HCI)"
+	default y
+	help
+	  Enable the Host Controller interface (HCI) in the Controller.
+	  This should almost always be enabled, except in a few special
+	  cases, like for unit testing.
+
 comment "BLE Controller configuration"
 
 config BT_CTLR_CRYPTO
@@ -137,7 +145,7 @@ config BT_CTLR_CRYPTO
 config BT_CTLR_HCI_VS_BUILD_INFO
 	string "Zephyr HCI VS Build Info string"
 	default ""
-	depends on BT_HCI_VS
+	depends on BT_CTLR_HCI && BT_HCI_VS
 	help
 	  User-defined string that will be returned by the Zephyr VS Read Build
 	  Information command after the Zephyr version and build time. When
@@ -988,6 +996,7 @@ config BT_CTLR_SMI_TX_SETTING
 
 config BT_CTLR_HCI_CODEC_AND_DELAY_INFO
 	bool "Codecs and controller delay information commands"
+	depends on BT_CTLR_HCI
 	help
 	  Enable HCI commands to read information about supported
 	  codecs, codec capabilities, and controller delay.
diff --git a/subsys/testsuite/boards/unit_testing/unit_testing/Kconfig.defconfig b/subsys/testsuite/boards/unit_testing/unit_testing/Kconfig.defconfig
index 939f1c97e71..38c6d4b3019 100644
--- a/subsys/testsuite/boards/unit_testing/unit_testing/Kconfig.defconfig
+++ b/subsys/testsuite/boards/unit_testing/unit_testing/Kconfig.defconfig
@@ -6,3 +6,8 @@
 choice BT_HCI_BUS_TYPE
 	default BT_NO_DRIVER
 endchoice
+
+# Controller HCI support requires e.g. devicetree, which isn't available
+# for unit tests.
+config BT_CTLR_HCI
+	default n