diff --git a/hack/test-utils.sh b/hack/test-utils.sh
index 42bbe319e..8a4832fde 100755
--- a/hack/test-utils.sh
+++ b/hack/test-utils.sh
@@ -18,6 +18,13 @@ source $(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/utils.sh
 
 # RESTART_WAIT_PERIOD is the period to wait before restarting containerd.
 RESTART_WAIT_PERIOD=${RESTART_WAIT_PERIOD:-10}
+CONTAINERD_CONFIG="--log-level=debug "
+
+# Use a configuration file for containerd.
+CONTAINERD_CONFIG_FILE=${CONTAINERD_CONFIG_FILE:-""}
+if [ -f "${CONTAINERD_CONFIG_FILE}" ]; then
+	CONTAINERD_CONFIG+="--config $CONTAINERD_CONFIG_FILE"
+fi
 
 CONTAINERD_SOCK=/run/containerd/containerd.sock
 
@@ -32,7 +39,7 @@ test_setup() {
     exit 1
   fi
   sudo pkill -x containerd
-  keepalive "sudo ${ROOT}/_output/containerd --log-level=debug" \
+  keepalive "sudo ${ROOT}/_output/containerd ${CONTAINERD_CONFIG}" \
     ${RESTART_WAIT_PERIOD} &> ${report_dir}/containerd.log &
   containerd_pid=$!
   # Wait for containerd to be running by using the containerd client ctr to check the version