diff --git a/depends/Makefile b/depends/Makefile
--- a/depends/Makefile
+++ b/depends/Makefile
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 DOWNLOAD_RETRIES:=3
 HOST_ID_SALT ?= salt
 BUILD_ID_SALT ?= salt
+JOBS ?= $(shell echo $$(($(shell nproc 2> /dev/null || sysctl -n hw.ncpu 2> /dev/null || echo 0) + 1)))
 
 host:=$(BUILD)
 ifneq ($(HOST),)
diff --git a/depends/README.md b/depends/README.md
--- a/depends/README.md
+++ b/depends/README.md
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 
 For example:
 
-    make HOST=x86_64-w64-mingw32 -j4
+    make HOST=x86_64-w64-mingw32
 
 A prefix will be generated that's suitable for plugging into Bitcoin's
 configure. In the above example, a dir named x86_64-w64-mingw32 will be
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@
     DEBUG: disable some optimizations and enable more runtime checking
     HOST_ID_SALT: Optional salt to use when generating host package ids
     BUILD_ID_SALT: Optional salt to use when generating build package ids
+    JOBS: Number of jobs to use for each package build
 
 If some packages are not built, for example `make NO_WALLET=1`, the appropriate
 options will be passed to bitcoin's configure. In this case, `--disable-wallet`.
diff --git a/depends/packages/native_ccache.mk b/depends/packages/native_ccache.mk
--- a/depends/packages/native_ccache.mk
+++ b/depends/packages/native_ccache.mk
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 endef
 
 define $(package)_build_cmds
-  $(MAKE)
+  $(MAKE) -j$(JOBS)
 endef
 
 define $(package)_stage_cmds