diff --git a/configure b/configure
index bd06a55b5ac488..27ab9a54a99981 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -370,6 +370,11 @@ parser.add_option('--xcode',
     dest='use_xcode',
     help='generate build files for use with xcode')
 
+parser.add_option('--ninja',
+    action='store_true',
+    dest='use_ninja',
+    help='generate build files for use with Ninja')
+
 parser.add_option('--enable-asan',
     action='store_true',
     dest='enable_asan',
@@ -776,6 +781,9 @@ def configure_node(o):
 
   o['variables']['asan'] = int(options.enable_asan or 0)
 
+  if options.use_xcode and options.use_ninja:
+    raise Exception('--xcode and --ninja cannot be used together.')
+
 def configure_library(lib, output):
   shared_lib = 'shared_' + lib
   output['variables']['node_' + shared_lib] = b(getattr(options, shared_lib))
@@ -1197,6 +1205,8 @@ gyp_args = [sys.executable, 'tools/gyp_node.py', '--no-parallel']
 
 if options.use_xcode:
   gyp_args += ['-f', 'xcode']
+elif options.use_ninja:
+  gyp_args += ['-f', 'ninja']
 elif flavor == 'win' and sys.platform != 'msys':
   gyp_args += ['-f', 'msvs', '-G', 'msvs_version=auto']
 else:
diff --git a/doc/guides/building-node-with-ninja.md b/doc/guides/building-node-with-ninja.md
index 550effa976a468..eb5791af548145 100644
--- a/doc/guides/building-node-with-ninja.md
+++ b/doc/guides/building-node-with-ninja.md
@@ -2,12 +2,11 @@
 
 The purpose of this guide is to show how to build Node.js using [Ninja][], as doing so can be significantly quicker than using `make`. Please see [Ninja's site][Ninja] for installation instructions (unix only).
 
-To build Node with ninja, there are 4 steps that must be taken:
+To build Node with ninja, there are 3 steps that must be taken:
 
-1. Configure the project's OS-based build rules via `./configure` as usual.
-2. Use `tools/gyp_node.py -f ninja` to produce Ninja-buildable `gyp` output.
-3. Run `ninja -C out/Release` to produce a compiled release binary.
-4. Lastly, make symlink to `./node` using `ln -fs out/Release/node node`.
+1. Configure the project's OS-based build rules via `./configure --ninja`.
+2. Run `ninja -C out/Release` to produce a compiled release binary.
+3. Lastly, make symlink to `./node` using `ln -fs out/Release/node node`.
 
 When running `ninja -C out/Release` you will see output similar to the following if the build has succeeded:
 ```
@@ -28,12 +27,12 @@ As such, if you wish to run the tests, it can be helpful to invoke the test runn
 
 ## Alias
 
-`alias nnode='./configure && tools/gyp_node.py -f ninja && ninja -C out/Release && ln -fs out/Release/node node'`
+`alias nnode='./configure --ninja && ninja -C out/Release && ln -fs out/Release/node node'`
 
 ## Producing a debug build
 
 The above alias can be modified slightly to produce a debug build, rather than a release build as shown below:
-`alias nnodedebug='./configure && tools/gyp_node.py -f ninja && ninja -C out/Debug && ln -fs out/Debug/node node_g'`
+`alias nnodedebug='./configure --ninja && ninja -C out/Debug && ln -fs out/Debug/node node_g'`
 
 
 [Ninja]: https://martine.github.io/ninja/