diff --git a/kong/cmd/utils/prefix_handler.lua b/kong/cmd/utils/prefix_handler.lua
index bf1c2ac82bcb..02bbbd2882d3 100644
--- a/kong/cmd/utils/prefix_handler.lua
+++ b/kong/cmd/utils/prefix_handler.lua
@@ -113,7 +113,8 @@ local function gen_default_ssl_cert(kong_config, target)
     end
 
     if not exists(ssl_cert) and not exists(ssl_cert_key) then
-      log.verbose("generating %s SSL certificate (", ssl_cert, ") and key (", ssl_cert_key, ") for ", target or "proxy", " listener")
+      log.verbose("generating %s SSL certificate (%s) and key (%s) for listener",
+                  target or "proxy", ssl_cert, ssl_cert_key)
 
       local key
       if suffix == "_ecdsa" then