diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/c-ares/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/c-ares/default.nix
index a5a41813bc3e..9ea2aafd0693 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/c-ares/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/c-ares/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
-{ lib, stdenv, fetchurl, writeTextDir }:
+{ lib, stdenv, fetchurl, writeTextDir
+, fetchpatch
+, withCMake ? true, cmake
+}:
 
 # Note: this package is used for bootstrapping fetchurl, and thus
 # cannot use fetchpatch! All mutable patches (generated by GitHub or
@@ -15,6 +18,17 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "sha256-Gn1SqKhKn7/7G+kTPA9uFyF9kepab6Yfa0cpzaeOu88=";
   };
 
+  # c-ares is used for fetchpatch, so avoid using it for c-aresMinimal
+  patches = lib.optionals withCMake [
+    # fix .pc paths created by cmake build
+    (fetchpatch {
+      url = "https://github.com/jonringer/c-ares/commit/9806a8a2f999a8a3efa3c893f2854dce6919d5bb.patch";
+      sha256 = "sha256-nh/ZKdan2/FTrouApRQA7O8KGZrLEUuWhxGOktiiGwU=";
+    })
+  ];
+
+  nativeBuildInputs = lib.optionals withCMake [ cmake ];
+
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
   meta = with lib; {
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/nghttp2/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/nghttp2/default.nix
index 6d28b79565e7..8e3264dcbc51 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/nghttp2/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/nghttp2/default.nix
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
 # Optional dependencies
 , enableApp ? with stdenv.hostPlatform; !isWindows && !isStatic
-, c-ares, libev, openssl, zlib
+, c-aresMinimal, libev, openssl, zlib
 , enableAsioLib ? false, boost
 , enableGetAssets ? false, libxml2
 , enableHpack ? false, jansson
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     ++ lib.optionals (enableApp) [ installShellFiles ]
     ++ lib.optionals (enablePython) [ python3Packages.cython ];
 
-  buildInputs = lib.optionals enableApp [ c-ares libev openssl zlib ]
+  buildInputs = lib.optionals enableApp [ c-aresMinimal libev openssl zlib ]
     ++ lib.optionals (enableAsioLib) [ boost ]
     ++ lib.optionals (enableGetAssets) [ libxml2 ]
     ++ lib.optionals (enableHpack) [ jansson ]
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/networking/curl/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/networking/curl/default.nix
index 07b9e58589a0..32d2fbb62de0 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/networking/curl/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/networking/curl/default.nix
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 { lib, stdenv, fetchurl, pkg-config, perl, nixosTests
 , brotliSupport ? false, brotli
-, c-aresSupport ? false, c-ares
+, c-aresSupport ? false, c-aresMinimal
 , gnutlsSupport ? false, gnutls
 , gsaslSupport ? false, gsasl
 , gssSupport ? with stdenv.hostPlatform; (
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
   # applications that use Curl.
   propagatedBuildInputs = with lib;
     optional brotliSupport brotli ++
-    optional c-aresSupport c-ares ++
+    optional c-aresSupport c-aresMinimal ++
     optional gnutlsSupport gnutls ++
     optional gsaslSupport gsasl ++
     optional gssSupport libkrb5 ++
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 33730884e91c..6336efbb09d3 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -18032,7 +18032,13 @@ with pkgs;
 
   bzrtp = callPackage ../development/libraries/bzrtp { };
 
-  c-ares = callPackage ../development/libraries/c-ares { };
+  c-ares = callPackage ../development/libraries/c-ares {
+    inherit (buildPackages) cmake;
+  };
+
+  c-aresMinimal = callPackage ../development/libraries/c-ares {
+    withCMake = false;
+  };
 
   c-blosc = callPackage ../development/libraries/c-blosc { };