diff --git a/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/karma/browser_builder.ts b/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/karma/browser_builder.ts
index 6bc18e6e2b4e..c6a295ea3b7c 100644
--- a/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/karma/browser_builder.ts
+++ b/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/karma/browser_builder.ts
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ async function initializeBrowser(
       budgets: undefined,
       optimization: false,
       buildOptimizer: false,
-      aot: false,
+      aot: options.aot,
       vendorChunk: true,
       namedChunks: true,
       extractLicenses: false,
diff --git a/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/karma/tests/options/aot_spec.ts b/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/karma/tests/options/aot_spec.ts
index 4019f98f42dc..6d874b22d001 100644
--- a/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/karma/tests/options/aot_spec.ts
+++ b/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/karma/tests/options/aot_spec.ts
@@ -12,13 +12,13 @@ import { BuilderMode } from '../../schema';
 
 describeKarmaBuilder(execute, KARMA_BUILDER_INFO, (harness, setupTarget) => {
   describe('Option: "aot"', () => {
-    it('enables aot', async () => {
+    it('enables aot with application builder', async () => {
       await setupTarget(harness);
 
       await harness.writeFiles({
         'src/aot.spec.ts': `
           import { Component } from '@angular/core';
-          
+
           describe('Hello', () => {
             it('should *not* contain jit instructions', () => {
               @Component({
@@ -43,5 +43,37 @@ describeKarmaBuilder(execute, KARMA_BUILDER_INFO, (harness, setupTarget) => {
       const { result } = await harness.executeOnce();
       expect(result?.success).toBeTrue();
     });
+
+    it('enables aot with browser builder', async () => {
+      await setupTarget(harness);
+
+      await harness.writeFiles({
+        'src/aot.spec.ts': `
+          import { Component } from '@angular/core';
+
+          describe('Hello', () => {
+            it('should *not* contain jit instructions', () => {
+              @Component({
+                template: 'Hello',
+              })
+              class Hello {}
+
+              expect((Hello as any).ɵcmp.template.toString()).not.toContain('jit');
+            });
+          });
+`,
+      });
+
+      harness.useTarget('test', {
+        ...BASE_OPTIONS,
+        aot: true,
+        /** Cf. {@link ../builder-mode_spec.ts} */
+        polyfills: ['zone.js', '@angular/localize/init', 'zone.js/testing'],
+        builderMode: BuilderMode.Browser,
+      });
+
+      const { result } = await harness.executeOnce();
+      expect(result?.success).toBeTrue();
+    });
   });
 });