diff --git a/.github/workflows/unit_tests.sh b/.github/workflows/unit_tests.sh
index 37594cb95e1..ec22bc081fc 100755
--- a/.github/workflows/unit_tests.sh
+++ b/.github/workflows/unit_tests.sh
@@ -63,16 +63,20 @@ for phase in "${PHASES[@]}"; do
             ninja -C build -v
             meson test -C build --print-errorlogs
             ;;
-        RUN_ASAN_UBSAN|RUN_GCC_ASAN_UBSAN|RUN_CLANG_ASAN_UBSAN)
+        RUN_ASAN_UBSAN|RUN_GCC_ASAN_UBSAN|RUN_CLANG_ASAN_UBSAN|RUN_CLANG_ASAN_UBSAN_NO_DEPS)
             MESON_ARGS=(--optimization=1)
 
-            if [[ "$phase" = "RUN_CLANG_ASAN_UBSAN" ]]; then
+            if [[ "$phase" =~ ^RUN_CLANG_ASAN_UBSAN ]]; then
                 export CC=clang
                 export CXX=clang++
                 # Build fuzzer regression tests only with clang (for now),
                 # see: https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/15886#issuecomment-632689604
                 # -Db_lundef=false: See https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson/issues/764
                 MESON_ARGS+=(-Db_lundef=false -Dfuzz-tests=true)
+
+                if [[ "$phase" == "RUN_CLANG_ASAN_UBSAN_NO_DEPS" ]]; then
+                    MESON_ARGS+=(-Dskip-deps=true)
+                fi
             fi
             run_meson --fatal-meson-warnings -Dnobody-group=nogroup --werror -Dtests=unsafe -Db_sanitize=address,undefined "${MESON_ARGS[@]}" build
             ninja -C build -v
diff --git a/.github/workflows/unit_tests.yml b/.github/workflows/unit_tests.yml
index d4a4f3c7234..3c8fb54850f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/unit_tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/unit_tests.yml
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
-        run_phase: [GCC, GCC_ASAN_UBSAN, CLANG, CLANG_ASAN_UBSAN]
+        run_phase: [GCC, GCC_ASAN_UBSAN, CLANG, CLANG_ASAN_UBSAN, CLANG_ASAN_UBSAN_NO_DEPS]
         cryptolib: [auto]
         include:
           - run_phase: GCC
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 428ebb2102e..371a9ce751b 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ if want_ossfuzz and want_libfuzzer
         error('only one of oss-fuzz or llvm-fuzz can be specified')
 endif
 
-skip_deps = want_ossfuzz
+skip_deps = want_ossfuzz or get_option('skip-deps')
 fuzzer_build = want_ossfuzz or want_libfuzzer
 
 # Create a title-less summary section early, so it ends up first in the output.
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index fa8c0b5e3fa..5d635748d58 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -484,3 +484,6 @@ option('analyze', type: 'boolean', value: 'true',
 
 option('bpf-framework', type : 'combo', choices : ['auto', 'true', 'false'],
     description: 'build BPF programs from source code in restricted C')
+
+option('skip-deps', type : 'boolean', value : 'false',
+       description : 'skip optional dependencies')
diff --git a/test/fuzz/meson.build b/test/fuzz/meson.build
index ccd66c0ccf9..80362d41543 100644
--- a/test/fuzz/meson.build
+++ b/test/fuzz/meson.build
@@ -7,10 +7,11 @@ sanitize_address_undefined = custom_target(
                    project_source_root,
                    '@OUTPUT@',
                    'fuzzers',
-                   '-Dfuzz-tests=true -Db_lundef=false -Db_sanitize=address,undefined --optimization=@0@ @1@ -Dc_args=@2@ -Dcpp_args=@2@'.format(
+                   '-Dfuzz-tests=true -Db_lundef=false -Db_sanitize=address,undefined --optimization=@0@ @1@ -Dc_args=@2@ -Dcpp_args=@2@ -Dskip-deps=@3@'.format(
                            get_option('optimization'),
                            get_option('werror') ? '--werror' : '',
-                           '-DFUZZING_BUILD_MODE_UNSAFE_FOR_PRODUCTION'
+                           '-DFUZZING_BUILD_MODE_UNSAFE_FOR_PRODUCTION',
+                           get_option('skip-deps')
                    ),
                    ' '.join(cc.cmd_array()),
                    cxx_cmd])