diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libhio/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libhio/package.py
index 42ef377a5adf9fcaedd3a041da4de054dabcfbd4..dc044d0587879f02889923ccfee42c5cbe1f1bba 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libhio/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libhio/package.py
@@ -57,4 +57,6 @@ def configure_args(self):
         if '+hdf5' in spec:
             args.append('--with-hdf5={0}'.format(spec['hdf5'].prefix))
 
+        args.append('--with-external-json={0}'.format(spec['json-c'].prefix))
+
         return args