diff --git a/devtools/platform-descriptor-json/src/main/resources/templates/basic-rest/scala/build.gradle-template.ftl b/devtools/platform-descriptor-json/src/main/resources/templates/basic-rest/scala/build.gradle-template.ftl
index 84873ec16ae9d..1598513be40b9 100644
--- a/devtools/platform-descriptor-json/src/main/resources/templates/basic-rest/scala/build.gradle-template.ftl
+++ b/devtools/platform-descriptor-json/src/main/resources/templates/basic-rest/scala/build.gradle-template.ftl
@@ -21,5 +21,12 @@ group '${project_groupId}'
 version '${project_version}'
 
 compileScala {
-  scalaCompileOptions.encoding = 'UTF-8'
+    scalaCompileOptions.encoding = 'UTF-8'
+    sourceCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
+    targetCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
+}
+
+java {
+    sourceCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
+    targetCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
 }
diff --git a/independent-projects/tools/common/src/main/java/io/quarkus/cli/commands/CreateProject.java b/independent-projects/tools/common/src/main/java/io/quarkus/cli/commands/CreateProject.java
index db5df11fb01dc..fcc0e19e8c965 100644
--- a/independent-projects/tools/common/src/main/java/io/quarkus/cli/commands/CreateProject.java
+++ b/independent-projects/tools/common/src/main/java/io/quarkus/cli/commands/CreateProject.java
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 import static io.quarkus.generators.ProjectGenerator.CLASS_NAME;
 import static io.quarkus.generators.ProjectGenerator.IS_SPRING;
+import static io.quarkus.generators.ProjectGenerator.JAVA_TARGET;
 import static io.quarkus.generators.ProjectGenerator.PROJECT_ARTIFACT_ID;
 import static io.quarkus.generators.ProjectGenerator.PROJECT_GROUP_ID;
 import static io.quarkus.generators.ProjectGenerator.PROJECT_VERSION;
@@ -18,6 +19,8 @@
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Optional;
 import java.util.Set;
+import java.util.regex.Matcher;
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 import javax.lang.model.SourceVersion;
 
 /**
@@ -27,6 +30,8 @@
  */
 public class CreateProject {
 
+    private static final Pattern JAVA_VERSION_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("(?:1\\.)?(\\d+)(?:\\..*)?");
+
     public static SourceType determineSourceType(Set<String> extensions) {
         Optional<SourceType> sourceType = extensions.stream()
                 .map(SourceType::parse)
@@ -42,6 +47,8 @@ private static boolean isSpringStyle(Collection<String> extensions) {
 
     private QuarkusCommandInvocation invocation;
 
+    private String javaTarget;
+
     /**
      * @deprecated since 1.3.0.CR1
      *             Please use {@link #CreateProject(ProjectWriter, QuarkusPlatformDescriptor)} instead.
@@ -76,6 +83,11 @@ public CreateProject sourceType(SourceType sourceType) {
         return this;
     }
 
+    public CreateProject javaTarget(String javaTarget) {
+        this.javaTarget = javaTarget;
+        return this;
+    }
+
     public CreateProject className(String className) {
         if (className == null) {
             return this;
@@ -126,6 +138,7 @@ public boolean doCreateProject(final Map<String, Object> context) throws IOExcep
                 }
             }
         }
+
         try {
             return execute().isSuccess();
         } catch (QuarkusCommandException e) {
@@ -134,6 +147,15 @@ public boolean doCreateProject(final Map<String, Object> context) throws IOExcep
     }
 
     public QuarkusCommandOutcome execute() throws QuarkusCommandException {
+        // Define the Java version to use determined from the one specified or the one creating the project
+        Matcher matcher = JAVA_VERSION_PATTERN
+                .matcher(this.javaTarget != null ? this.javaTarget : System.getProperty("java.version", ""));
+        if (matcher.matches() && Integer.parseInt(matcher.group(1)) < 11) {
+            invocation.setProperty(JAVA_TARGET, "8");
+        } else {
+            invocation.setProperty(JAVA_TARGET, "11");
+        }
+
         return new CreateProjectCommandHandler().execute(invocation);
     }
 }
diff --git a/independent-projects/tools/common/src/main/java/io/quarkus/generators/ProjectGenerator.java b/independent-projects/tools/common/src/main/java/io/quarkus/generators/ProjectGenerator.java
index fb4686a450e90..ef9a66f4a60cc 100644
--- a/independent-projects/tools/common/src/main/java/io/quarkus/generators/ProjectGenerator.java
+++ b/independent-projects/tools/common/src/main/java/io/quarkus/generators/ProjectGenerator.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ public interface ProjectGenerator {
     String CLASS_NAME = "class_name";
     String IS_SPRING = "is_spring";
     String RESOURCE_PATH = "path";
+    String JAVA_TARGET = "java_target";
 
     String getName();
 
diff --git a/independent-projects/tools/common/src/main/java/io/quarkus/generators/rest/BasicRestProjectGenerator.java b/independent-projects/tools/common/src/main/java/io/quarkus/generators/rest/BasicRestProjectGenerator.java
index 2049877a58c39..ad20146203a15 100644
--- a/independent-projects/tools/common/src/main/java/io/quarkus/generators/rest/BasicRestProjectGenerator.java
+++ b/independent-projects/tools/common/src/main/java/io/quarkus/generators/rest/BasicRestProjectGenerator.java
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 package io.quarkus.generators.rest;
 
+import static io.quarkus.generators.ProjectGenerator.JAVA_TARGET;
 import static java.lang.String.format;
 
 import io.quarkus.cli.commands.QuarkusCommandInvocation;
@@ -144,6 +145,24 @@ private void generate(final String templateName, QuarkusCommandInvocation invoca
                         template = template.replace(format("${%s}", e.getKey().toString()), e.getValue().toString());
                     }
                 }
+
+                // do some nasty replacements for Java target if we want to generate Java 11 projects
+                if ("11".equals(invocation.getProperty(JAVA_TARGET))) {
+                    if (BuildTool.GRADLE.equals(invocation.getBuildTool())) {
+                        template = template.replace("JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8", "JavaVersion.VERSION_11");
+                    } else {
+                        template = template.replace("<maven.compiler.source>1.8</maven.compiler.source>",
+                                "<maven.compiler.source>11</maven.compiler.source>");
+                        template = template.replace("<maven.compiler.target>1.8</maven.compiler.target>",
+                                "<maven.compiler.target>11</maven.compiler.target>");
+                        // Kotlin
+                        template = template.replace("<jvmTarget>1.8</jvmTarget>", "<jvmTarget>11</jvmTarget>");
+                        // Scala
+                        // For now, we keep Java 8 as a target for Scala as we don't want to upgrade to 2.13
+                        // template = template.replace("<arg>-target:jvm-1.8</arg>", "<arg>-target:jvm-11</arg>");
+                    }
+                }
+
                 writer.write(outputFilePath, template);
             }
         }