diff --git a/roles/koji_builder/templates/builders/site-defaults.cfg b/roles/koji_builder/templates/builders/site-defaults.cfg
index 8c71adc7aa..54721dd3eb 100644
--- a/roles/koji_builder/templates/builders/site-defaults.cfg
+++ b/roles/koji_builder/templates/builders/site-defaults.cfg
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ config_opts['environment']['LANG'] = 'C.UTF-8'
 {% if env == 'staging' %}
 config_opts['dnf_common_opts'] = ['--setopt=module_platform_id=platform:el8']
 config_opts['use_bootstrap_container'] = True
+config_opts['dnf_install_command'] = 'install dnf dnf-plugins-core redhat-release'
 ##config_opts['plugin_conf']['tmpfs_enable'] = True
 #config_opts['plugin_conf']['tmpfs_opts'] = {}
 #config_opts['plugin_conf']['tmpfs_opts']['required_ram_mb'] = 1024