diff --git a/recipes/aimrocks/build.sh b/recipes/aimrocks/build.sh
index c5a62312493b1..635817169021c 100644
--- a/recipes/aimrocks/build.sh
+++ b/recipes/aimrocks/build.sh
@@ -4,4 +4,7 @@ set -ex
 # NOTE(hadim): to locate rocksdb
 export AIM_DEP_DIR=$PREFIX
 
+# Do not embed rocksdb in the package
+export EMBED_ROCKSDB=0
+
 python -m pip install . -vv
diff --git a/recipes/aimrocks/meta.yaml b/recipes/aimrocks/meta.yaml
index 7022ee0a07ac8..9194ed85298a2 100644
--- a/recipes/aimrocks/meta.yaml
+++ b/recipes/aimrocks/meta.yaml
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@ source:
   url: https://github.com/aimhubio/aimrocks/archive/refs/tags/v{{ version }}.tar.gz
   sha256: c30ff542ba95cd615616cec07061f33e8385ebd131801fc2cdaf83010241a469
 
+  patches:
+    - setup_rocksdb.patch
+
 build:
   number: 0
   skip: true  # [win]
diff --git a/recipes/aimrocks/setup_rocksdb.patch b/recipes/aimrocks/setup_rocksdb.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..c08a9f1a62624
--- /dev/null
+++ b/recipes/aimrocks/setup_rocksdb.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
+index a6ba6e3..7fadf92 100644
+--- a/setup.py
++++ b/setup.py
+@@ -40,9 +40,6 @@ third_party_install_dir = os.environ.get('AIM_DEP_DIR', '/usr/local')
+ third_party_deps = ['rocksdb']
+ 
+ third_party_lib_dir = os.path.join(third_party_install_dir, 'lib')
+-third_party_libs = glob(os.path.join(third_party_lib_dir, 'librocksdb.*'))
+-
+-third_party_headers = [os.path.join(third_party_install_dir, 'include/rocksdb')]
+ 
+ # We define a local include directory to store all the required public headers.
+ # The third party headers are copied into this directory to enable binding with
+@@ -54,17 +51,25 @@ local_lib_dir = os.path.abspath(
+     os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'src/aimrocks')
+ )
+ 
+-print('third party libs detected:', third_party_libs)
+-for source in third_party_libs:
+-    print('copying third party lib', source, local_lib_dir)
+-    copy_file(source, local_lib_dir)
++if os.environ.get("EMBED_ROCKSDB", "1") == "1":
++
++    third_party_libs = glob(os.path.join(third_party_lib_dir, 'librocksdb.*'))
+ 
+-for source in third_party_headers:
+-    basename = os.path.basename(source)
+-    destination = os.path.join(local_include_dir, basename)
+-    copy_tree(source, destination,
+-              preserve_symlinks=False, update=True)
++    print('third party libs detected:', third_party_libs)
++    for source in third_party_libs:
++        print('copying third party lib', source, local_lib_dir)
++        copy_file(source, local_lib_dir)
+ 
++    third_party_headers = [os.path.join(third_party_install_dir, 'include/rocksdb')]
++    for source in third_party_headers:
++        basename = os.path.basename(source)
++        destination = os.path.join(local_include_dir, basename)
++        copy_tree(source, destination,
++                preserve_symlinks=False, update=True)
++
++# `include_dirs` is used to specify the include directories for the extension.
++# It contains the aimrocks local headers and the rocksdb ones.
++include_dirs = [os.path.join(third_party_install_dir, 'include/'), local_include_dir]
+ 
+ exts = [
+     Extension(
+@@ -73,13 +78,12 @@ exts = [
+         extra_compile_args=aimrocks_extra_compile_args,
+         extra_link_args=aimrocks_extra_link_args,
+         language='c++',
+-        include_dirs=[local_include_dir],
++        include_dirs=include_dirs,
+         library_dirs=[third_party_lib_dir],
+         libraries=['rocksdb'],
+     )
+ ]
+ 
+-
+ setup(
+     name="aimrocks",
+     version='0.2.1',