diff --git a/common.gypi b/common.gypi
index f0315b198a85a0..b07b854be6217f 100644
--- a/common.gypi
+++ b/common.gypi
@@ -28,9 +28,6 @@
 
     'openssl_fips%': '',
 
-    # Default to -O0 for debug builds.
-    'v8_optimized_debug%': 0,
-
     # Reset this number to 0 on major V8 upgrades.
     # Increment by one for each non-official patch applied to deps/v8.
     'v8_embedder_string': '-node.44',
diff --git a/configure.py b/configure.py
index a5075bd9d8a60b..bf9a10d6474805 100755
--- a/configure.py
+++ b/configure.py
@@ -576,6 +576,12 @@
     default=True,
     help='get more output from this script')
 
+parser.add_option('--v8-non-optimized-debug',
+    action='store_true',
+    dest='v8_non_optimized_debug',
+    default=False,
+    help='compile V8 with minimal optimizations and with runtime checks')
+
 # Create compile_commands.json in out/Debug and out/Release.
 parser.add_option('-C',
     action='store_true',
@@ -1156,7 +1162,7 @@ def configure_library(lib, output):
 def configure_v8(o):
   o['variables']['v8_enable_gdbjit'] = 1 if options.gdb else 0
   o['variables']['v8_no_strict_aliasing'] = 1  # Work around compiler bugs.
-  o['variables']['v8_optimized_debug'] = 0  # Compile with -O0 in debug builds.
+  o['variables']['v8_optimized_debug'] = 0 if options.v8_non_optimized_debug else 1
   o['variables']['v8_random_seed'] = 0  # Use a random seed for hash tables.
   o['variables']['v8_promise_internal_field_count'] = 1 # Add internal field to promises for async hooks.
   o['variables']['v8_use_snapshot'] = 'false' if options.without_snapshot else 'true'