diff --git a/configure.librdkafka b/configure.librdkafka
index 88510e47ce..edfdecf1bd 100644
--- a/configure.librdkafka
+++ b/configure.librdkafka
@@ -83,6 +83,13 @@ void foo (void) {
         mkl_allvar_set WITH_PLUGINS WITH_PLUGINS y
     fi
 
+    if [[ $MKL_DISTRO == "osx" ]]; then
+        # Add brew's OpenSSL pkg-config path on OSX
+        # to avoid picking up the outdated system-provided openssl / libcrypto.
+        export PKG_CONFIG_PATH="$PKG_CONFIG_PATH:/usr/local/opt/openssl/lib/pkgconfig"
+    fi
+
+
     # optional libs
     mkl_lib_check "zlib" "WITH_ZLIB" disable CC "-lz" \
                   "#include <zlib.h>"
@@ -121,17 +128,6 @@ void foo (void) {
     mkl_allvar_set WITH_SOCKEM WITH_SOCKEM y
 
     if [[ "$ENABLE_SSL" == "y" ]]; then
-        if [[ $MKL_DISTRO == "osx" ]]; then
-            # Add brew's OpenSSL pkg-config path on OSX
-            # to avoid picking up the outdated system-provided openssl.
-            export PKG_CONFIG_PATH="$PKG_CONFIG_PATH:/usr/local/opt/openssl/lib/pkgconfig"
-        fi
-
-        # Some platforms, OSX Mojave in particular, require
-        # explicit linking of libcrypto.
-        mkl_lib_check "libcrypto" "" disable CC "-lcrypto" \
-                      "#include <openssl/ssl.h>"
-
 	mkl_meta_set "libssl" "deb" "libssl-dev"
 	mkl_lib_check "libssl" "WITH_SSL" disable CC "-lssl" \
                       "#include <openssl/ssl.h>"