diff --git a/subprojects/gst-plugins-bad/gst-libs/gst/opencv/meson.build b/subprojects/gst-plugins-bad/gst-libs/gst/opencv/meson.build
index 3854588e41..1d337f1daa 100644
--- a/subprojects/gst-plugins-bad/gst-libs/gst/opencv/meson.build
+++ b/subprojects/gst-plugins-bad/gst-libs/gst/opencv/meson.build
@@ -97,4 +97,6 @@ if opencv_found
   install_headers(opencv_headers, subdir : 'gstreamer-1.0/gst/opencv')
 elif get_option('opencv').enabled()
   error('OpenCV support enabled but required dependencies were not found.')
+else
+  gstopencv_dep = disabler()
 endif