diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index c2e9619f1f..70843afcd5 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -813,7 +813,6 @@ endforeach
 optional_programs = [
   'augparse',
   'dmidecode',
-  'dnsmasq',
   'ebtables',
   'flake8',
   'ip',
diff --git a/src/util/virdnsmasq.c b/src/util/virdnsmasq.c
index 5bed8817e5..579c67d86a 100644
--- a/src/util/virdnsmasq.c
+++ b/src/util/virdnsmasq.c
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@
 
 VIR_LOG_INIT("util.dnsmasq");
 
+#define DNSMASQ "dnsmasq"
 #define DNSMASQ_HOSTSFILE_SUFFIX "hostsfile"
 #define DNSMASQ_ADDNHOSTSFILE_SUFFIX "addnhosts"
 
@@ -650,16 +651,6 @@ dnsmasqCapsRefreshInternal(dnsmasqCaps *caps)
     g_autoptr(virCommand) vercmd = NULL;
     g_autofree char *version = NULL;
 
-    /* Make sure the binary we are about to try exec'ing exists.
-     * Technically we could catch the exec() failure, but that's
-     * in a sub-process so it's hard to feed back a useful error.
-     */
-    if (!virFileIsExecutable(caps->binaryPath)) {
-        virReportSystemError(errno, _("dnsmasq binary %s is not executable"),
-                             caps->binaryPath);
-        return -1;
-    }
-
     vercmd = virCommandNewArgList(caps->binaryPath, "--version", NULL);
     virCommandSetOutputBuffer(vercmd, &version);
     virCommandAddEnvPassCommon(vercmd);
@@ -679,7 +670,13 @@ dnsmasqCapsNewEmpty(void)
         return NULL;
     if (!(caps = virObjectNew(dnsmasqCapsClass)))
         return NULL;
-    caps->binaryPath = g_strdup(DNSMASQ);
+
+    if (!(caps->binaryPath = virFindFileInPath(DNSMASQ))) {
+        virReportSystemError(ENOENT, "%s",
+                             _("Unable to find 'dnsmasq' binary in $PATH"));
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
     return g_steal_pointer(&caps);
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/meson.build b/tests/meson.build
index 4792220b48..8f92f2033f 100644
--- a/tests/meson.build
+++ b/tests/meson.build
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ mock_libs = [
   { 'name': 'domaincapsmock' },
   { 'name': 'shunload', 'sources': [ 'shunloadhelper.c' ] },
   { 'name': 'vircgroupmock' },
+  { 'name': 'virdnsmasqmock' },
   { 'name': 'virfilecachemock' },
   { 'name': 'virfirewallmock' },
   { 'name': 'virgdbusmock' },
diff --git a/tests/networkxml2conftest.c b/tests/networkxml2conftest.c
index 6a2c70ead1..13257c749b 100644
--- a/tests/networkxml2conftest.c
+++ b/tests/networkxml2conftest.c
@@ -158,4 +158,5 @@ mymain(void)
     return ret == 0 ? EXIT_SUCCESS : EXIT_FAILURE;
 }
 
-VIR_TEST_MAIN(mymain)
+VIR_TEST_MAIN_PRELOAD(mymain,
+                      VIR_TEST_MOCK("virdnsmasq"))
diff --git a/tests/virdnsmasqmock.c b/tests/virdnsmasqmock.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..448332ec40
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/virdnsmasqmock.c
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2022 Red Hat, Inc.
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later
+ */
+
+#include <config.h>
+
+#include "internal.h"
+#include "virfile.h"
+
+char *
+virFindFileInPath(const char *file)
+{
+    if (STREQ_NULLABLE(file, "dnsmasq"))
+        return g_strdup("/usr/sbin/dnsmasq");
+
+    /* We should not need any other binaries so return NULL. */
+    return NULL;
+}