diff --git a/core/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/deployment/dev/QuarkusDevModeLauncher.java b/core/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/deployment/dev/QuarkusDevModeLauncher.java
index d5e2b05b68da4..4f99d00ef5eb6 100644
--- a/core/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/deployment/dev/QuarkusDevModeLauncher.java
+++ b/core/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/deployment/dev/QuarkusDevModeLauncher.java
@@ -67,6 +67,12 @@ public B preventnoverify(boolean preventnoverify) {
             return (B) this;
         }
 
+        @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
+        public B forceC2(boolean force) {
+            forceC2 = force;
+            return (B) this;
+        }
+
         @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
         public B jvmArgs(String jvmArgs) {
             args.add(jvmArgs);
@@ -316,6 +322,7 @@ public R build() throws Exception {
     private String targetJavaVersion;
     private Set<Path> buildFiles = new HashSet<>(0);
     private boolean deleteDevJar = true;
+    private boolean forceC2 = false;
     private String baseName;
     private Consumer<DevModeContext> entryPointCustomizer;
     private String applicationArgs;
@@ -335,7 +342,7 @@ protected QuarkusDevModeLauncher() {
     protected void prepare() throws Exception {
         JBossVersion.disableVersionLogging();
 
-        if (!JavaVersionUtil.isGraalvmJdk()) {
+        if (!JavaVersionUtil.isGraalvmJdk() && !forceC2) {
             // prevent C2 compiler for kicking in - makes startup a little faster
             // it only makes sense in dev-mode but it is not available when GraalVM is used as the JDK
             args.add("-XX:TieredStopAtLevel=1");
diff --git a/devtools/gradle/gradle-application-plugin/src/main/java/io/quarkus/gradle/tasks/QuarkusDev.java b/devtools/gradle/gradle-application-plugin/src/main/java/io/quarkus/gradle/tasks/QuarkusDev.java
index d748b2d1e078b..5cc8b1319ac2f 100644
--- a/devtools/gradle/gradle-application-plugin/src/main/java/io/quarkus/gradle/tasks/QuarkusDev.java
+++ b/devtools/gradle/gradle-application-plugin/src/main/java/io/quarkus/gradle/tasks/QuarkusDev.java
@@ -93,6 +93,7 @@ public abstract class QuarkusDev extends QuarkusTask {
     private final MapProperty<String, String> environmentVariables;
 
     private final Property<Boolean> preventNoVerify;
+    private final Property<Boolean> forceC2;
     private final Property<Boolean> shouldPropagateJavaCompilerArgs;
     private final ListProperty<String> args;
     private final ListProperty<String> jvmArgs;
@@ -128,6 +129,9 @@ public QuarkusDev(
         preventNoVerify = objectFactory.property(Boolean.class);
         preventNoVerify.convention(false);
 
+        forceC2 = objectFactory.property(Boolean.class);
+        forceC2.convention(false);
+
         shouldPropagateJavaCompilerArgs = objectFactory.property(Boolean.class);
         shouldPropagateJavaCompilerArgs.convention(true);
 
@@ -222,6 +226,11 @@ public boolean isPreventnoverify() {
         return getPreventNoVerify().get();
     }
 
+    @Input
+    public Property<Boolean> getForceC2() {
+        return forceC2;
+    }
+
     /**
      * @deprecated see {@link #getPreventNoVerify()}
      */
@@ -414,6 +423,7 @@ private QuarkusDevModeLauncher newLauncher(final AnalyticsService analyticsServi
         }
         GradleDevModeLauncher.Builder builder = GradleDevModeLauncher.builder(getLogger(), java)
                 .preventnoverify(getPreventNoVerify().getOrElse(false))
+                .forceC2(getForceC2().getOrElse(false))
                 .projectDir(projectDir)
                 .buildDir(buildDir)
                 .outputDir(buildDir)
diff --git a/devtools/maven/src/main/java/io/quarkus/maven/DevMojo.java b/devtools/maven/src/main/java/io/quarkus/maven/DevMojo.java
index 8879a3e604cab..f605744e82af5 100644
--- a/devtools/maven/src/main/java/io/quarkus/maven/DevMojo.java
+++ b/devtools/maven/src/main/java/io/quarkus/maven/DevMojo.java
@@ -296,6 +296,15 @@ public class DevMojo extends AbstractMojo {
     @Parameter(defaultValue = "${preventnoverify}")
     private boolean preventnoverify = false;
 
+    /**
+     * This value is intended to be set to true when we want to require C2 compilation instead of preventing it from
+     * ever kicking in.
+     * Setting this will likely have a small negative effect on startup time and should only be done when it absolutely
+     * makes sense.
+     */
+    @Parameter(defaultValue = "${forceC2}")
+    private boolean forceC2 = false;
+
     /**
      * Whether changes in the projects that appear to be dependencies of the project containing the application to be launched
      * should trigger hot-reload. By default, they do.
@@ -1247,6 +1256,7 @@ private QuarkusDevModeLauncher newLauncher(String actualDebugPort, String bootst
 
         final MavenDevModeLauncher.Builder builder = MavenDevModeLauncher.builder(java, getLog())
                 .preventnoverify(preventnoverify)
+                .forceC2(forceC2)
                 .buildDir(buildDir)
                 .outputDir(outputDirectory)
                 .suspend(suspend)