diff --git a/meta/lib/oe/package_manager/__init__.py b/meta/lib/oe/package_manager/__init__.py
index 80bc1a6bc6..d3b45705ec 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oe/package_manager/__init__.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oe/package_manager/__init__.py
@@ -266,7 +266,7 @@ class PackageManager(object, metaclass=ABCMeta):
         pass
 
     @abstractmethod
-    def install(self, pkgs, attempt_only=False):
+    def install(self, pkgs, attempt_only=False, hard_depends_only=False):
         """
         Install a list of packages. 'pkgs' is a list object. If 'attempt_only' is
         True, installation failures are ignored.
@@ -396,7 +396,7 @@ class PackageManager(object, metaclass=ABCMeta):
                 bb.note("Installing complementary packages ... %s (skipped already provided packages %s)" % (
                     ' '.join(install_pkgs),
                     ' '.join(skip_pkgs)))
-                self.install(install_pkgs)
+                self.install(install_pkgs, hard_depends_only=True)
             except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
                 bb.fatal("Could not compute complementary packages list. Command "
                          "'%s' returned %d:\n%s" %
diff --git a/meta/lib/oe/package_manager/deb/__init__.py b/meta/lib/oe/package_manager/deb/__init__.py
index 86ddb130ad..b96ea0bad4 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oe/package_manager/deb/__init__.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oe/package_manager/deb/__init__.py
@@ -289,14 +289,18 @@ class DpkgPM(OpkgDpkgPM):
 
         self.deploy_dir_unlock()
 
-    def install(self, pkgs, attempt_only=False):
+    def install(self, pkgs, attempt_only=False, hard_depends_only=False):
         if attempt_only and len(pkgs) == 0:
             return
 
         os.environ['APT_CONFIG'] = self.apt_conf_file
 
-        cmd = "%s %s install --allow-downgrades --allow-remove-essential --allow-change-held-packages --allow-unauthenticated --no-remove %s" % \
-              (self.apt_get_cmd, self.apt_args, ' '.join(pkgs))
+        extra_args = ""
+        if hard_depends_only:
+            extra_args = "--no-install-recommends"
+
+        cmd = "%s %s install --allow-downgrades --allow-remove-essential --allow-change-held-packages --allow-unauthenticated --no-remove %s %s" % \
+              (self.apt_get_cmd, self.apt_args, extra_args, ' '.join(pkgs))
 
         try:
             bb.note("Installing the following packages: %s" % ' '.join(pkgs))
diff --git a/meta/lib/oe/package_manager/ipk/__init__.py b/meta/lib/oe/package_manager/ipk/__init__.py
index 4cd3963111..6fd2f021b6 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oe/package_manager/ipk/__init__.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oe/package_manager/ipk/__init__.py
@@ -337,7 +337,7 @@ class OpkgPM(OpkgDpkgPM):
 
         self.deploy_dir_unlock()
 
-    def install(self, pkgs, attempt_only=False):
+    def install(self, pkgs, attempt_only=False, hard_depends_only=False):
         if not pkgs:
             return
 
@@ -346,6 +346,8 @@ class OpkgPM(OpkgDpkgPM):
             cmd += " --add-exclude %s" % exclude
         for bad_recommendation in (self.d.getVar("BAD_RECOMMENDATIONS") or "").split():
             cmd += " --add-ignore-recommends %s" % bad_recommendation
+        if hard_depends_only:
+            cmd += " --no-install-recommends"
         cmd += " install "
         cmd += " ".join(pkgs)
 
diff --git a/meta/lib/oe/package_manager/rpm/__init__.py b/meta/lib/oe/package_manager/rpm/__init__.py
index b392581069..d97dab3293 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oe/package_manager/rpm/__init__.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oe/package_manager/rpm/__init__.py
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ class RpmPM(PackageManager):
         os.environ['NATIVE_ROOT'] = self.d.getVar('STAGING_DIR_NATIVE')
 
 
-    def install(self, pkgs, attempt_only = False):
+    def install(self, pkgs, attempt_only=False, hard_depends_only=False):
         if len(pkgs) == 0:
             return
         self._prepare_pkg_transaction()
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ class RpmPM(PackageManager):
 
         output = self._invoke_dnf((["--skip-broken"] if attempt_only else []) +
                          (["-x", ",".join(exclude_pkgs)] if len(exclude_pkgs) > 0 else []) +
-                         (["--setopt=install_weak_deps=False"] if self.d.getVar('NO_RECOMMENDATIONS') == "1" else []) +
+                         (["--setopt=install_weak_deps=False"] if (hard_depends_only or self.d.getVar('NO_RECOMMENDATIONS') == "1") else []) +
                          (["--nogpgcheck"] if self.d.getVar('RPM_SIGN_PACKAGES') != '1' else ["--setopt=gpgcheck=True"]) +
                          ["install"] +
                          pkgs)