diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests.yml b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
index 174eb4971e..5fcaf26458 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     defaults:
       run:
-        shell: bash -l {0}
+        shell: bash -el {0}
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ jobs:
             --file ./tests/requirements.txt \
             --file ./tests/requirements-linux.txt \
             ${{ env.CONDA_CHANNEL_LABEL }}::${{ env.CONDA_VERSION }}
-          pip install -e .
+          pip install -e . --no-deps
 
       - name: Show info
         run: |
@@ -224,13 +224,19 @@ jobs:
           run-post: false  # skip post cleanup
 
       - name: Setup environment
+        shell: cmd /C CALL {0}
         run: |
-          choco install visualstudio2017-workload-vctools
-          conda install -q -y -c defaults `
-            --file .\tests\requirements.txt `
-            --file .\tests\requirements-windows.txt `
-            ${{ env.CONDA_CHANNEL_LABEL }}::conda
-          pip install -e .
+          @echo on
+          CALL choco install visualstudio2017-workload-vctools || exit 1
+          CALL conda install -q -y -c defaults ^
+            --file .\tests\requirements.txt ^
+            --file .\tests\requirements-windows.txt ^
+            ${{ env.CONDA_CHANNEL_LABEL }}::conda || exit 1
+          :: TEMPORARY
+          if "${{ matrix.python-version }}" == "3.8" CALL conda install "https://anaconda.org/conda-forge/menuinst/2.0.0/download/win-64/menuinst-2.0.0-py38hd3f51b4_1.conda" || exit 1
+          if "${{ matrix.python-version }}" == "3.11" CALL conda install "https://anaconda.org/conda-forge/menuinst/2.0.0/download/win-64/menuinst-2.0.0-py311h12c1d0e_1.conda" || exit 1
+          :: /TEMPORARY
+          CALL pip install -e . --no-deps || exit 1
 
       - name: Show info
         run: |
@@ -288,7 +294,7 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: macos-11
     defaults:
       run:
-        shell: bash -l {0}
+        shell: bash -el {0}
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
@@ -341,7 +347,7 @@ jobs:
             --file ./tests/requirements.txt \
             --file ./tests/requirements-macos.txt \
             ${{ env.CONDA_CHANNEL_LABEL }}::conda
-          pip install -e .
+          pip install -e . --no-deps
 
       - name: Show info
         run: |
diff --git a/conda_build/post.py b/conda_build/post.py
index 76fe82ae96..018c1f7e58 100644
--- a/conda_build/post.py
+++ b/conda_build/post.py
@@ -1732,6 +1732,65 @@ def fix_permissions(files, prefix):
                 log.warn(str(e))
 
 
+def check_menuinst_json(files, prefix) -> None:
+    """
+    Check that Menu/*.json files are valid menuinst v2 JSON documents,
+    as defined by the CEP-11 schema. This JSON schema is part of the `menuinst`
+    package.
+
+    Validation can fail if the menu/*.json file is not valid JSON, or if it doesn't
+    comply with the menuinst schema.
+
+    We validate at build-time so we don't have to validate at install-time, saving
+    `conda` a few dependencies.
+    """
+    json_files = fnmatch_filter(files, "[Mm][Ee][Nn][Uu][/\\]*.[Jj][Ss][Oo][Nn]")
+    if not json_files:
+        return
+
+    print("Validating Menu/*.json files")
+    log = utils.get_logger(__name__, dedupe=False)
+    try:
+        import jsonschema
+        from menuinst.utils import data_path
+    except ModuleNotFoundError as exc:
+        log.warning(
+            "Found 'Menu/*.json' files but couldn't validate: %s",
+            ", ".join(json_files),
+            exc_info=exc,
+        )
+        return
+
+    try:
+        schema_path = data_path("menuinst.schema.json")
+        with open(schema_path) as f:
+            schema = json.load(f)
+        ValidatorClass = jsonschema.validators.validator_for(schema)
+        validator = ValidatorClass(schema)
+    except (jsonschema.SchemaError, json.JSONDecodeError, OSError) as exc:
+        log.warning("'%s' is not a valid menuinst schema", schema_path, exc_info=exc)
+        return
+
+    for json_file in json_files:
+        try:
+            with open(join(prefix, json_file)) as f:
+                text = f.read()
+            if "$schema" not in text:
+                log.warning(
+                    "menuinst v1 JSON document '%s' won't be validated.", json_file
+                )
+                continue
+            validator.validate(json.loads(text))
+        except (jsonschema.ValidationError, json.JSONDecodeError, OSError) as exc:
+            log.warning(
+                "'%s' is not a valid menuinst JSON document!",
+                json_file,
+                exc_info=exc,
+            )
+        else:
+            log.info("'%s' is a valid menuinst JSON document", json_file)
+
+
 def post_build(m, files, build_python, host_prefix=None, is_already_linked=False):
     print("number of files:", len(files))
 
@@ -1765,6 +1824,7 @@ def post_build(m, files, build_python, host_prefix=None, is_already_linked=False
             ):
                 post_process_shared_lib(m, f, prefix_files, host_prefix)
     check_overlinking(m, files, host_prefix)
+    check_menuinst_json(files, host_prefix)
 
 
 def check_symlinks(files, prefix, croot):
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 6125bce2ee..edf6f493b2 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -44,6 +44,8 @@ dependencies = [
   "six",
   "tomli ; python_version<'3.11'",
   "tqdm",
+  "jsonschema >=4.19",
+  "menuinst >=2"
 ]
 dynamic = ["version"]
 
diff --git a/recipe/meta.yaml b/recipe/meta.yaml
index 6a3ed0ea27..c2451656da 100644
--- a/recipe/meta.yaml
+++ b/recipe/meta.yaml
@@ -51,6 +51,8 @@ requirements:
     - six
     - tomli                        # [py<311]
     - tqdm
+    - menuinst >=2
+    - jsonschema >=4.19
   run_constrained:
     - conda-verify  >=3.1.0
 
diff --git a/tests/requirements-linux.txt b/tests/requirements-linux.txt
index 149ce09bad..b1785e2c4f 100644
--- a/tests/requirements-linux.txt
+++ b/tests/requirements-linux.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+# TEMP
+conda-forge::menuinst >=2
 patch
 patchelf
 shellcheck
diff --git a/tests/requirements-macos.txt b/tests/requirements-macos.txt
index 133b191333..caa4235c84 100644
--- a/tests/requirements-macos.txt
+++ b/tests/requirements-macos.txt
@@ -1,2 +1,4 @@
+# TEMP
+conda-forge::menuinst >=2
 patch
 shellcheck
diff --git a/tests/requirements.txt b/tests/requirements.txt
index 02d34d6787..3e230a6c24 100644
--- a/tests/requirements.txt
+++ b/tests/requirements.txt
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ cytoolz
 filelock
 git
 jinja2
+jsonschema
 numpy
 perl
 pip
diff --git a/tests/test-recipes/metadata/_menu_json_validation/menu.json b/tests/test-recipes/metadata/_menu_json_validation/menu.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..eeed9e756f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test-recipes/metadata/_menu_json_validation/menu.json
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+{
+    "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema",
+    "$id": "https://schemas.conda.io/menuinst-1.schema.json",
+    "menu_name": "Example 1",
+    "menu_items": [
+        {
+            "name": "Example",
+            "description": "This will install to Windows and Linux with default options. MacOS has a custom option.",
+            "command": [
+                "{{ PYTHON }}",
+                "-c",
+                "import sys; print(sys.executable)"
+            ],
+            "platforms": {
+                "win": {},
+                "linux": {},
+                "osx": {
+                    "CFBundleName": "My Example"
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    ]
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/test-recipes/metadata/_menu_json_validation/meta.yaml b/tests/test-recipes/metadata/_menu_json_validation/meta.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ac23805ec9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test-recipes/metadata/_menu_json_validation/meta.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+package:
+  name: menu_json_validation
+  version: "1.0"
+
+build:
+  script:
+    - mkdir -p "${PREFIX}/Menu" # [unix]
+    - cp "${RECIPE_DIR}/menu.json" "${PREFIX}/Menu/menu_json_validation.json" # [unix]
+    - md "%PREFIX%\\Menu" # [win]
+    - copy /y "%RECIPE_DIR%\\menu.json" "%PREFIX%\\Menu\\menu_json_validation.json" # [win]
diff --git a/tests/test_post.py b/tests/test_post.py
index 3fa808fad5..c15fffaf2a 100644
--- a/tests/test_post.py
+++ b/tests/test_post.py
@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
 # Copyright (C) 2014 Anaconda, Inc
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
+import json
+import logging
 import os
 import shutil
 import sys
+from pathlib import Path
 
 import pytest
 
@@ -91,3 +94,57 @@ def test_pypi_installer_metadata(testing_config):
         get_site_packages("", "3.9")
     )
     assert "conda" == (package_has_file(pkg, expected_installer, refresh_mode="forced"))
+
+
+def test_menuinst_validation_ok(testing_config, caplog, tmp_path):
+    "1st check - validation passes with recipe as is"
+    recipe = Path(metadata_dir, "_menu_json_validation")
+    recipe_tmp = tmp_path / "_menu_json_validation"
+    shutil.copytree(recipe, recipe_tmp)
+
+    with caplog.at_level(logging.INFO):
+        pkg = api.build(str(recipe_tmp), config=testing_config, notest=True)[0]
+
+    captured_text = caplog.text
+    assert "Found 'Menu/*.json' files but couldn't validate:" not in captured_text
+    assert "not a valid menuinst JSON file" not in captured_text
+    assert "is a valid menuinst JSON document" in captured_text
+    assert package_has_file(pkg, "Menu/menu_json_validation.json")
+
+
+def test_menuinst_validation_fails_bad_schema(testing_config, caplog, tmp_path):
+    "2nd check - valid JSON but invalid content fails validation"
+    recipe = Path(metadata_dir, "_menu_json_validation")
+    recipe_tmp = tmp_path / "_menu_json_validation"
+    shutil.copytree(recipe, recipe_tmp)
+    menu_json = recipe_tmp / "menu.json"
+    menu_json_contents = menu_json.read_text()
+
+    bad_data = json.loads(menu_json_contents)
+    bad_data["menu_items"][0]["osx"] = ["bad", "schema"]
+    menu_json.write_text(json.dumps(bad_data, indent=2))
+    with caplog.at_level(logging.WARNING):
+        api.build(str(recipe_tmp), config=testing_config, notest=True)
+
+    captured_text = caplog.text
+    assert "Found 'Menu/*.json' files but couldn't validate:" not in captured_text
+    assert "not a valid menuinst JSON document" in captured_text
+    assert "ValidationError" in captured_text
+
+
+def test_menuinst_validation_fails_bad_json(testing_config, caplog, tmp_path):
+    "3rd check - non-parsable JSON fails validation"
+    recipe = Path(metadata_dir, "_menu_json_validation")
+    recipe_tmp = tmp_path / "_menu_json_validation"
+    shutil.copytree(recipe, recipe_tmp)
+    menu_json = recipe_tmp / "menu.json"
+    menu_json_contents = menu_json.read_text()
+    menu_json.write_text(menu_json_contents + "Make this an invalid JSON")
+
+    with caplog.at_level(logging.WARNING):
+        api.build(str(recipe_tmp), config=testing_config, notest=True)
+
+    captured_text = caplog.text
+    assert "Found 'Menu/*.json' files but couldn't validate:" not in captured_text
+    assert "not a valid menuinst JSON document" in captured_text
+    assert "JSONDecodeError" in captured_text