diff --git a/nodeup/pkg/model/kubelet.go b/nodeup/pkg/model/kubelet.go
index b97c8dd357a92..4c57fdcf43290 100644
--- a/nodeup/pkg/model/kubelet.go
+++ b/nodeup/pkg/model/kubelet.go
@@ -576,7 +576,7 @@ func (b *KubeletBuilder) buildKubeletConfigSpec() (*kops.KubeletConfigSpec, erro
 	c.ClientCAFile = filepath.Join(b.PathSrvKubernetes(), "ca.crt")
 
 	// Respect any MaxPods value the user sets explicitly.
-	if b.NodeupConfig.Networking.AmazonVPC != nil && c.MaxPods == nil {
+	if (b.NodeupConfig.Networking.AmazonVPC != nil || (b.NodeupConfig.Networking.Cilium != nil && b.NodeupConfig.Networking.Cilium.IPAM == kops.CiliumIpamEni)) && c.MaxPods == nil {
 		sess := session.Must(session.NewSession())
 		metadata := ec2metadata.New(sess)