diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 110270a..5895cf7 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file, in reverse
 
 * [#8](https://github.com/sandrokeil/interop-config/issues/8): Introducing HasOptionalOptions Interface
 * [#9](https://github.com/sandrokeil/interop-config/issues/9): Introducing HasDefaultOptions Interface
+* [#13](https://github.com/sandrokeil/interop-config/issues/13): Support for recursive mandatory options check
 * Benchmark suite
 
 ### Deprecated
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index d558bd4..5172cf4 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -30,3 +30,11 @@ To do so:
  -  Copy `TestConfig.php.dist` file to `TestConfig.php`
  -  Edit `TestConfig.php` to enable any specific functionality you want to test, as well as to provide test values to
     utilize.
+
+## RUNNING BENCHMARKS
+
+To run benchmarks execute phpbench
+
+  ```sh
+  $ ./vendor/bin/phpbench run --report=aggregate
+  ```
diff --git a/benchmark/HasMandatoryOptionsRecursiveContainerIdBench.php b/benchmark/HasMandatoryOptionsRecursiveContainerIdBench.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2af3297
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmark/HasMandatoryOptionsRecursiveContainerIdBench.php
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * Sake
+ *
+ * @link      http://github.com/sandrokeil/interop-config for the canonical source repository
+ * @copyright Copyright (c) 2015 Sandro Keil
+ * @license   http://github.com/sandrokeil/interop-config/blob/master/LICENSE.txt New BSD License
+ */
+
+namespace InteropBench\Config;
+
+use InteropTest\Config\TestAsset\ConnectionMandatoryRecursiveContainerIdConfiguration;
+
+/**
+ * @beforeMethod classSetUp
+ */
+class HasMandatoryOptionsRecursiveContainerId
+{
+    private $config;
+
+    /**
+     * @var ConnectionMandatoryRecursiveContainerIdConfiguration
+     */
+    private $factory;
+
+    public function classSetUp()
+    {
+        $this->config = $this->getTestConfig();
+        $this->factory = new ConnectionMandatoryRecursiveContainerIdConfiguration();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Retrieve options
+     *
+     * @revs 1000
+     * @iterations 10
+     */
+    public function options()
+    {
+        $this->factory->options($this->config);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns test config
+     *
+     * @return array
+     */
+    private function getTestConfig()
+    {
+        // Load the user-defined test configuration file, if it exists; otherwise, load default
+        if (is_readable('test/TestConfig.php')) {
+            $testConfig = require 'test/testing.config.php';
+        } else {
+            $testConfig = require 'test/testing.config.php.dist';
+        }
+
+        return $testConfig;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/ConfigurationTrait.php b/src/ConfigurationTrait.php
index 935238e..bc7f22b 100644
--- a/src/ConfigurationTrait.php
+++ b/src/ConfigurationTrait.php
@@ -73,17 +73,7 @@ public function options($config)
         }
         // check for mandatory options
         if ($this instanceof HasMandatoryOptions) {
-            foreach ($this->mandatoryOptions() as $option) {
-                if (!isset($options[$option])) {
-                    throw new Exception\MandatoryOptionNotFoundException(sprintf(
-                        'Mandatory option "%s" was not set for configuration "' . "['%s']['%s']%s",
-                        $option,
-                        $vendorName,
-                        $packageName,
-                        $id ? '[' . $id . ']' : ''
-                    ));
-                }
-            }
+            $this->checkMandatoryOptions($this->mandatoryOptions(), $options);
         }
         // check for default options
         if ($this instanceof HasDefaultOptions) {
@@ -92,6 +82,40 @@ public function options($config)
         return $options;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Checks if a mandatory param is missing, supports recursion
+     *
+     * @param array|ArrayAccess $mandatoryOptions
+     * @param array|ArrayAccess $options
+     * @throws Exception\MandatoryOptionNotFoundException
+     */
+    private function checkMandatoryOptions($mandatoryOptions, $options)
+    {
+        foreach ($mandatoryOptions as $key => $mandatoryOption) {
+            # if a string key exists it indicates a recursive check
+            if (isset($options[$key])) {
+                $this->checkMandatoryOptions($mandatoryOption, $options[$key]);
+                return;
+            }
+            if (isset($options[$mandatoryOption])) {
+                continue;
+            }
+            $id = null;
+
+            if ($this instanceof HasContainerId) {
+                $id = $this->containerId();
+            }
+
+            throw new Exception\MandatoryOptionNotFoundException(sprintf(
+                'Mandatory option "%s" was not set for configuration "' . "['%s']['%s']%s",
+                $mandatoryOption,
+                $this->vendorName(),
+                $this->packageName(),
+                $id ? '[' . $id . ']' : ''
+            ));
+        }
+    }
+
     /**
      * @see \Interop\Config\HasConfig::vendorName
      */
diff --git a/test/ConfigurationTraitTest.php b/test/ConfigurationTraitTest.php
index 53bbe69..d6ba659 100644
--- a/test/ConfigurationTraitTest.php
+++ b/test/ConfigurationTraitTest.php
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 use InteropTest\Config\TestAsset\ConnectionDefaultOptionsConfiguration;
 use InteropTest\Config\TestAsset\ConnectionMandatoryConfiguration;
 use InteropTest\Config\TestAsset\ConnectionMandatoryContainerIdConfiguration;
+use InteropTest\Config\TestAsset\ConnectionMandatoryRecursiveContainerIdConfiguration;
 use PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase as TestCase;
 
 /**
@@ -230,6 +231,27 @@ public function testOptionsThrowsRuntimeExceptionIfMandatoryOptionIsMissing()
         $stub->options($config);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Tests if options() throws a runtime exception if a recursive mandatory option is missing
+     *
+     * @covers \Interop\Config\ConfigurationTrait::options
+     */
+    public function testOptionsThrowsRuntimeExceptionIfMandatoryOptionRecursiveIsMissing()
+    {
+        $stub = new ConnectionMandatoryRecursiveContainerIdConfiguration();
+
+        $this->setExpectedException(
+            'Interop\Config\Exception\MandatoryOptionNotFoundException',
+            'Mandatory option "dbname"'
+        );
+
+        $config = $this->getTestConfig();
+
+        unset($config['doctrine']['connection']['orm_default']['params']['dbname']);
+
+        $stub->options($config);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Returns test config
      *
diff --git a/test/TestAsset/ConnectionMandatoryRecursiveContainerIdConfiguration.php b/test/TestAsset/ConnectionMandatoryRecursiveContainerIdConfiguration.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b87230d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/TestAsset/ConnectionMandatoryRecursiveContainerIdConfiguration.php
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * Sake
+ *
+ * @link      http://github.com/sandrokeil/interop-config for the canonical source repository
+ * @copyright Copyright (c) 2014 - 2015 Sandro Keil
+ * @license   http://github.com/sandrokeil/interop-config/blob/master/LICENSE.txt New BSD License
+ */
+
+namespace InteropTest\Config\TestAsset;
+
+use Interop\Config\ConfigurationTrait;
+use Interop\Config\HasContainerId;
+use Interop\Config\HasMandatoryOptions;
+use Interop\Config\ObtainsOptions;
+
+class ConnectionMandatoryRecursiveContainerIdConfiguration implements
+    ObtainsOptions,
+    HasContainerId,
+    HasMandatoryOptions
+{
+    use ConfigurationTrait;
+
+    public function vendorName()
+    {
+        return 'doctrine';
+    }
+
+    public function packageName()
+    {
+        return 'connection';
+    }
+
+    public function containerId()
+    {
+        return 'orm_default';
+    }
+
+    public function mandatoryOptions()
+    {
+        return ['driverClass', 'params' => ['user', 'dbname']];
+    }
+}