diff --git a/Makefile.include b/Makefile.include
index f24124e8352019e26f338759b5cb3b5c7e574e4f..51ce92cfaec14c5353e357f39d529831c63faf05 100644
--- a/Makefile.include
+++ b/Makefile.include
@@ -315,8 +315,8 @@ clean:
 
 distclean:
 	@for TARG in `ls $(CONTIKI)/arch/platform $(TARGETDIRS)`; do \
-		echo Running: make TARGET=$$TARG clean; \
-		make TARGET=$$TARG clean; \
+		echo Running: $(MAKE) TARGET=$$TARG clean; \
+		$(MAKE) TARGET=$$TARG clean; \
 	done
 
 -include $(CONTIKI)/arch/platform/$(TARGET)/Makefile.customrules-$(TARGET)
diff --git a/Makefile.tools b/Makefile.tools
index 6151ba83a9f0603e50834897c75a877f99f9dd68..81653cde6e0b7a5a90a5e3b3b1588a5b9ef5dd77 100644
--- a/Makefile.tools
+++ b/Makefile.tools
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ TUNSLIP6 = $(SERIAL_IO_TOOL_DIR)/tunslip6
 SERIAL_DUMP_BIN = $(SERIAL_IO_TOOL_DIR)/serialdump
 
 $(SERIAL_DUMP_BIN): $(SERIAL_IO_TOOL_DIR)/serialdump.c $(SERIAL_IO_TOOL_DEPS)
-	make -C $(SERIAL_IO_TOOL_DIR) serialdump
+	$(MAKE) -C $(SERIAL_IO_TOOL_DIR) serialdump
 
 $(TUNSLIP6): $(SERIAL_IO_TOOL_DIR)/tunslip6.c $(SERIAL_IO_TOOL_DEPS)
-	make -C $(SERIAL_IO_TOOL_DIR) tunslip6
+	$(MAKE) -C $(SERIAL_IO_TOOL_DIR) tunslip6
diff --git a/tests/Makefile b/tests/Makefile
index a879c805fa0a5b8f3590de1d9bfc984480fb27bb..ddee606f251e393f3766d80038ef173afa6cd1c6 100644
--- a/tests/Makefile
+++ b/tests/Makefile
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ summary: $(SUMMARIES)
 	@cat $(SUMMARIES) > $@
 
 %/summary:
-	@make -C $* summary || true
+	@$(MAKE) -C $* summary || true
 
 clean:
 	rm -f $(SUMMARIES) summary
diff --git a/tests/Makefile.compile-test b/tests/Makefile.compile-test
index 1a59520333c1d4c5802b134083d87f8f0d05a57a..e30f9da361c8cb7aa4b973153073ff295872daa0 100644
--- a/tests/Makefile.compile-test
+++ b/tests/Makefile.compile-test
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ get_target_vars = $(wordlist 2,15,$(subst :, ,$1))
 define dooneexample
 @echo -n Building example $(3): $(1) $(4) for target $(2)
 @((cd $(EXAMPLESDIR)/$(1); \
- make $(4) TARGET=$(2) clean && make -j $(4) TARGET=$(2) WERROR=1) > \
+ $(MAKE) $(4) TARGET=$(2) clean && make -j $(4) TARGET=$(2) WERROR=1) > \
       /dev/null 2>make.err && \
  (echo " -> OK" && printf "%-75s %-40s %-20s TEST OK\n" "$(1)" "$(4)" "$(2)" > $(3)-$(subst /,-,$(1))$(2).testlog) || \
  (echo " -> FAIL" && printf "%-75s %-40s %-20s TEST FAIL\n" "$(1)" "$(4)" "$(2)" > $(3)-$(subst /,-,$(1))$(2).testlog ; cat make.err))
@@ -65,4 +65,4 @@ clean:
 	@rm -f *.testlog summary
 	@$(foreach example, $(EXAMPLES), \
            $(foreach target, $(EXAMPLESTARGETS), \
-             (cd $(EXAMPLESDIR)/$(example); make TARGET=$(target) clean);))
+             (cd $(EXAMPLESDIR)/$(example); $(MAKE) TARGET=$(target) clean);))