diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index b6e4b4b91c..9be50ac1c2 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 FROM registry.svc.ci.openshift.org/openshift/release:golang-1.10 AS builder
 WORKDIR /go/src/github.com/coreos/prometheus-operator
 COPY . .
-RUN make operator
+RUN make operator-no-deps
 
 FROM registry.svc.ci.openshift.org/openshift/origin-v4.0:base
 COPY --from=builder /go/src/github.com/coreos/prometheus-operator/operator /usr/bin/
diff --git a/Dockerfile.rhel7 b/Dockerfile.rhel7
index f0e4371b9c..98a9eb9ab4 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.rhel7
+++ b/Dockerfile.rhel7
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 FROM registry.svc.ci.openshift.org/ocp/builder:golang-1.10 AS builder
 WORKDIR /go/src/github.com/coreos/prometheus-operator
 COPY . .
-RUN make operator
+RUN make operator-no-deps
 
 FROM registry.svc.ci.openshift.org/ocp/4.0:base
 COPY --from=builder /go/src/github.com/coreos/prometheus-operator/operator /usr/bin/
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index cd8510e8c7..fd4805b54e 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -43,10 +43,13 @@ clean:
 build: operator prometheus-config-reloader k8s-gen
 
 .PHONY: operator
-operator: $(GOLANG_FILES)
+operator: $(GOLANG_FILES) operator-no-deps
+
+.PHONY: operator-no-deps
+operator-no-deps:
 	GOOS=linux CGO_ENABLED=0 go build \
 	-ldflags "-X $(GO_PKG)/pkg/version.Version=$(shell cat VERSION)" \
-	-o $@ cmd/operator/main.go
+	-o operator cmd/operator/main.go
 
 .PHONY: prometheus-config-reloader
 prometheus-config-reloader: