diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index d9f07cef23b..1443e8ae082 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -704,6 +704,14 @@ endif()
 
 if(CONFIG_ZTEST)
   list(APPEND SYSCALL_INCLUDE_DIRS ${ZEPHYR_BASE}/subsys/testsuite/ztest/include)
+
+  if(CONFIG_NO_OPTIMIZATIONS AND NOT CONFIG_ZTEST_ALLOW_NO_OPTIMIZATIONS)
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "Running tests with CONFIG_NO_OPTIMIZATIONS is not "
+    "supported and known to break many tests, please do not file issues about "
+    "it. If you really mean to do this also enable "
+    "CONFIG_ZTEST_ALLOW_NO_OPTIMIZATIONS.")
+  endif()
+
 endif()
 
 foreach(d ${SYSCALL_INCLUDE_DIRS})
diff --git a/subsys/testsuite/ztest/Kconfig b/subsys/testsuite/ztest/Kconfig
index 3dcb9ce593d..8f35ceb1500 100644
--- a/subsys/testsuite/ztest/Kconfig
+++ b/subsys/testsuite/ztest/Kconfig
@@ -103,6 +103,14 @@ config ZTEST_NO_YIELD
 	  yielding to the idle thread may put the board into a low power state
 	  where a debugger cannot connect to it.
 
+config ZTEST_ALLOW_NO_OPTIMIZATIONS
+	bool "Allow running tests with CONFIG_NO_OPTIMIZATIONS"
+	depends on NO_OPTIMIZATIONS
+	help
+	  Do not error out when building a test without compiler optimization.
+	  This is normally not supported, please don't file issues when running
+	  tests that are not explicitly tuned to work in this configuration.
+
 if ZTEST_NEW_API
 
 menu "ztest provided rules"
diff --git a/tests/arch/arm/arm_interrupt/testcase.yaml b/tests/arch/arm/arm_interrupt/testcase.yaml
index cf8f628310e..9b77a19ea6b 100644
--- a/tests/arch/arm/arm_interrupt/testcase.yaml
+++ b/tests/arch/arm/arm_interrupt/testcase.yaml
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ tests:
     filter: not CONFIG_TRUSTED_EXECUTION_NONSECURE
     extra_configs:
       - CONFIG_NO_OPTIMIZATIONS=y
+      - CONFIG_ZTEST_ALLOW_NO_OPTIMIZATIONS=y
       - CONFIG_IDLE_STACK_SIZE=512
       - CONFIG_MAIN_STACK_SIZE=2048
   arch.interrupt.extra_exception_info:
diff --git a/tests/arch/arm/arm_thread_swap/testcase.yaml b/tests/arch/arm/arm_thread_swap/testcase.yaml
index 47810a6b540..d1dd199fdc4 100644
--- a/tests/arch/arm/arm_thread_swap/testcase.yaml
+++ b/tests/arch/arm/arm_thread_swap/testcase.yaml
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ tests:
     filter: not CONFIG_TRUSTED_EXECUTION_NONSECURE
     extra_configs:
       - CONFIG_NO_OPTIMIZATIONS=y
+      - CONFIG_ZTEST_ALLOW_NO_OPTIMIZATIONS=y
       - CONFIG_IDLE_STACK_SIZE=512
       - CONFIG_MAIN_STACK_SIZE=2048
     min_flash: 192
@@ -25,6 +26,7 @@ tests:
       - CONFIG_FPU=y
       - CONFIG_FPU_SHARING=y
       - CONFIG_NO_OPTIMIZATIONS=y
+      - CONFIG_ZTEST_ALLOW_NO_OPTIMIZATIONS=y
       - CONFIG_IDLE_STACK_SIZE=512
       - CONFIG_MAIN_STACK_SIZE=2048
     min_flash: 192
diff --git a/tests/boards/nrf52_bsim/egu/prj.conf b/tests/boards/nrf52_bsim/egu/prj.conf
index bcc4d42973f..88cef86f71b 100644
--- a/tests/boards/nrf52_bsim/egu/prj.conf
+++ b/tests/boards/nrf52_bsim/egu/prj.conf
@@ -2,3 +2,4 @@ CONFIG_ZTEST=y
 CONFIG_ZTEST_NEW_API=y
 CONFIG_GEN_IRQ_VECTOR_TABLE=y
 CONFIG_DYNAMIC_INTERRUPTS=y
+CONFIG_ZTEST_ALLOW_NO_OPTIMIZATIONS=y
diff --git a/tests/subsys/logging/log_stack/testcase.yaml b/tests/subsys/logging/log_stack/testcase.yaml
index 5b2a84df706..852553db167 100644
--- a/tests/subsys/logging/log_stack/testcase.yaml
+++ b/tests/subsys/logging/log_stack/testcase.yaml
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ tests:
     extra_configs:
       - CONFIG_LOG_MODE_DEFERRED=y
       - CONFIG_NO_OPTIMIZATIONS=y
+      - CONFIG_ZTEST_ALLOW_NO_OPTIMIZATIONS=y
       - CONFIG_IDLE_STACK_SIZE=2048
   logging.log_stack_immediate:
     extra_configs:
@@ -25,6 +26,7 @@ tests:
     extra_configs:
       - CONFIG_LOG_MODE_IMMEDIATE=y
       - CONFIG_NO_OPTIMIZATIONS=y
+      - CONFIG_ZTEST_ALLOW_NO_OPTIMIZATIONS=y
       - CONFIG_IDLE_STACK_SIZE=2048
   logging.log_stack_deferred_cpp:
     extra_configs:
@@ -35,6 +37,7 @@ tests:
     extra_configs:
       - CONFIG_LOG_MODE_DEFERRED=y
       - CONFIG_NO_OPTIMIZATIONS=y
+      - CONFIG_ZTEST_ALLOW_NO_OPTIMIZATIONS=y
       - CONFIG_CPP=y
   logging.log_stack_immediate_cpp:
     extra_configs:
@@ -45,4 +48,5 @@ tests:
     extra_configs:
       - CONFIG_LOG_MODE_IMMEDIATE=y
       - CONFIG_NO_OPTIMIZATIONS=y
+      - CONFIG_ZTEST_ALLOW_NO_OPTIMIZATIONS=y
       - CONFIG_CPP=y