diff --git a/bazel/external/BUILD b/bazel/external/BUILD
index 3c1cc863b193..03a47a410703 100644
--- a/bazel/external/BUILD
+++ b/bazel/external/BUILD
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ cc_library(
     srcs = [":empty.cc"],
     deps = [
         "@com_github_lightstep_lightstep_tracer_cpp//:lightstep",
+        "@com_google_googletest//:gtest",
     ],
 )
 
diff --git a/bazel/repositories.bzl b/bazel/repositories.bzl
index 21e8361def6c..c1839da0a506 100644
--- a/bazel/repositories.bzl
+++ b/bazel/repositories.bzl
@@ -224,6 +224,8 @@ def envoy_dependencies(path = "@envoy_deps//", skip_com_google_protobuf = False,
         com_github_gabime_spdlog(repository)
     if not ("lightstep" in skip_targets or "com_github_lightstep_lightstep_tracer_cpp" in existing_rule_keys):
         com_github_lightstep_lightstep_tracer_cpp(repository)
+    if not ("googletest" in skip_targets or "com_google_googletest" in existing_rule_keys):
+        com_google_googletest()
     if not (skip_com_google_protobuf or "com_google_protobuf" in existing_rule_keys):
         com_google_protobuf()
 
@@ -288,6 +290,17 @@ def com_github_lightstep_lightstep_tracer_cpp(repository = ""):
       actual="@com_github_lightstep_lightstep_tracer_cpp//:lightstep",
   )
 
+def com_google_googletest():
+  native.git_repository(
+      name = "com_google_googletest",
+      remote = "https://github.com/google/googletest",
+      commit = "43863938377a9ea1399c0596269e0890b5c5515a",
+  )
+  native.bind(
+      name = "googletest",
+      actual = "@com_google_googletest//:gtest",
+  )
+
 def com_google_protobuf():
   # TODO(htuch): This can switch back to a point release http_archive at the next
   # release (> 3.4.1), we need HEAD proto_library support and
diff --git a/bazel/target_recipes.bzl b/bazel/target_recipes.bzl
index 0cab65e9b0e7..c27263d963b8 100644
--- a/bazel/target_recipes.bzl
+++ b/bazel/target_recipes.bzl
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ TARGET_RECIPES = {
     # TODO(htuch): This shouldn't be a build recipe, it's a tooling dependency
     # that is external to Bazel.
     "gcovr": "gcovr",
-    "googletest": "googletest",
     "tcmalloc_and_profiler": "gperftools",
     "http_parser": "http-parser",
     "luajit": "luajit",
diff --git a/ci/build_container/build_recipes/googletest.sh b/ci/build_container/build_recipes/googletest.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index e4f6b061dd61..000000000000
--- a/ci/build_container/build_recipes/googletest.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,14 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-
-set -e
-
-VERSION=43863938377a9ea1399c0596269e0890b5c5515a
-
-wget -O googletest-"$VERSION".tar.gz https://github.com/google/googletest/archive/"$VERSION".tar.gz
-tar xf googletest-"$VERSION".tar.gz
-cd googletest-"$VERSION"
-cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX:PATH="$THIRDPARTY_BUILD" \
-  -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS:STRING="${CXXFLAGS} ${CPPFLAGS}" \
-  -DCMAKE_C_FLAGS:STRING="${CFLAGS} ${CPPFLAGS}" \
-  -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo .
-make VERBOSE=1 install
diff --git a/ci/prebuilt/BUILD b/ci/prebuilt/BUILD
index dc0a46a17592..cadae6ce5898 100644
--- a/ci/prebuilt/BUILD
+++ b/ci/prebuilt/BUILD
@@ -35,19 +35,6 @@ cc_library(
     deps = [":event"],
 )
 
-cc_library(
-    name = "googletest",
-    srcs = [
-        "thirdparty_build/lib/libgmock.a",
-        "thirdparty_build/lib/libgtest.a",
-    ],
-    hdrs = glob([
-        "thirdparty_build/include/gmock/**/*.h",
-        "thirdparty_build/include/gtest/**/*.h",
-    ]),
-    includes = ["thirdparty_build/include"],
-)
-
 cc_library(
     name = "http_parser",
     srcs = ["thirdparty_build/lib/libhttp_parser.a"],