diff --git a/test-framework/common/pom.xml b/test-framework/common/pom.xml
index dd54190a721ff..641401c161afe 100644
--- a/test-framework/common/pom.xml
+++ b/test-framework/common/pom.xml
@@ -39,6 +39,11 @@
             <groupId>org.jboss.logging</groupId>
             <artifactId>commons-logging-jboss-logging</artifactId>
         </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>io.rest-assured</groupId>
+            <artifactId>rest-assured</artifactId>
+            <optional>true</optional>
+        </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.junit.jupiter</groupId>
             <artifactId>junit-jupiter</artifactId>
diff --git a/test-framework/common/src/main/java/io/quarkus/test/common/RestAssuredURLManager.java b/test-framework/common/src/main/java/io/quarkus/test/common/RestAssuredURLManager.java
index a6e4dac9d4f7b..45ac979b47767 100644
--- a/test-framework/common/src/main/java/io/quarkus/test/common/RestAssuredURLManager.java
+++ b/test-framework/common/src/main/java/io/quarkus/test/common/RestAssuredURLManager.java
@@ -1,16 +1,19 @@
 package io.quarkus.test.common;
 
-import java.lang.reflect.Field;
-import java.lang.reflect.Method;
 import java.time.Duration;
 import java.util.Optional;
 
 import org.eclipse.microprofile.config.ConfigProvider;
 
+import io.restassured.RestAssured;
+import io.restassured.config.HttpClientConfig;
+import io.restassured.config.RestAssuredConfig;
+
 /**
  * Utility class that sets the rest assured port to the default test port and meaningful timeouts.
  * <p>
- * This uses reflection so as to not introduce a dependency on rest-assured
+ * This class works whether RestAssured is on the classpath or not - if it is not, invoking the methods of the class are
+ * essentially NO-OPs
  * <p>
  * TODO: do we actually want this here, or should it be in a different module?
  */
@@ -19,70 +22,21 @@ public class RestAssuredURLManager {
     private static final int DEFAULT_HTTP_PORT = 8081;
     private static final int DEFAULT_HTTPS_PORT = 8444;
 
-    private static final Field portField;
-    private static final Field baseURIField;
-    private static final Field basePathField;
-    private static final Field configField;
-
-    private static final Method setParamMethod;
-    private static final Method configMethod;
-    private static final Method httpClientMethod;
-    private static final Class<?> httpClientConfigClass;
-
     private static int oldPort;
     private static String oldBaseURI;
     private static String oldBasePath;
+    private static Object oldRestAssuredConfig; // we can't declare the type here as that would prevent this class for being loaded if RestAssured is not present
+
+    private static final boolean REST_ASSURED_PRESENT;
 
     static {
-        Field p;
-        Field baseURI;
-        Field basePath;
-        Field configF;
-        Method setParam;
-        Method configM;
-        Method httpClient;
-        Class<?> httpClientConfig;
+        boolean present = false;
         try {
-            Class<?> restAssured = Class.forName("io.restassured.RestAssured");
-            p = restAssured.getField("port");
-            p.setAccessible(true);
-            baseURI = restAssured.getField("baseURI");
-            baseURI.setAccessible(true);
-            basePath = restAssured.getField("basePath");
-            basePath.setAccessible(true);
-
-            configF = restAssured.getField("config");
-            configF.setAccessible(true);
-
-            configM = restAssured.getMethod("config");
-            configM.setAccessible(true);
-
-            httpClientConfig = Class.forName("io.restassured.config.HttpClientConfig");
-            setParam = httpClientConfig.getMethod("setParam", String.class, Object.class);
-            setParam.setAccessible(true);
-
-            Class<?> restAssuredConfigClass = Class.forName("io.restassured.config.RestAssuredConfig");
-            httpClient = restAssuredConfigClass.getMethod("httpClient", httpClientConfig);
-            httpClient.setAccessible(true);
-
-        } catch (Exception e) {
-            p = null;
-            baseURI = null;
-            basePath = null;
-            configF = null;
-            setParam = null;
-            httpClientConfig = null;
-            configM = null;
-            httpClient = null;
+            Class.forName("io.restassured.RestAssured");
+            present = true;
+        } catch (ClassNotFoundException ignored) {
         }
-        portField = p;
-        baseURIField = baseURI;
-        basePathField = basePath;
-        configField = configF;
-        setParamMethod = setParam;
-        httpClientConfigClass = httpClientConfig;
-        configMethod = configM;
-        httpClientMethod = httpClient;
+        REST_ASSURED_PRESENT = present;
     }
 
     private RestAssuredURLManager() {
@@ -111,136 +65,76 @@ public static void setURL(boolean useSecureConnection, Integer port) {
     }
 
     public static void setURL(boolean useSecureConnection, Integer port, String additionalPath) {
-        if (portField != null) {
-            try {
-                oldPort = (Integer) portField.get(null);
-                if (port == null) {
-                    port = useSecureConnection ? getPortFromConfig(DEFAULT_HTTPS_PORT, "quarkus.http.test-ssl-port")
-                            : getPortFromConfig(DEFAULT_HTTP_PORT, "quarkus.lambda.mock-event-server.test-port",
-                                    "quarkus.http.test-port");
-                }
-                portField.set(null, port);
-            } catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
-                e.printStackTrace();
-            }
+        if (!REST_ASSURED_PRESENT) {
+            return;
         }
-        if (baseURIField != null) {
-            try {
-                oldBaseURI = (String) baseURIField.get(null);
-                final String protocol = useSecureConnection ? "https://" : "http://";
-                String host = ConfigProvider.getConfig().getOptionalValue("quarkus.http.host", String.class)
-                        .orElse("localhost");
-                if (host.equals("0.0.0.0")) {
-                    host = "localhost";
-                }
-                String baseURI = protocol + host;
-                baseURIField.set(null, baseURI);
-            } catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
-                e.printStackTrace();
-            }
+
+        oldPort = RestAssured.port;
+        if (port == null) {
+            port = useSecureConnection ? getPortFromConfig(DEFAULT_HTTPS_PORT, "quarkus.http.test-ssl-port")
+                    : getPortFromConfig(DEFAULT_HTTP_PORT, "quarkus.lambda.mock-event-server.test-port",
+                            "quarkus.http.test-port");
         }
-        if (basePathField != null) {
-            try {
-                oldBasePath = (String) basePathField.get(null);
-                Optional<String> basePath = ConfigProvider.getConfig().getOptionalValue("quarkus.http.root-path",
-                        String.class);
-                if (basePath.isPresent() || additionalPath != null) {
-                    StringBuilder bp = new StringBuilder();
-                    if (basePath.isPresent()) {
-                        if (basePath.get().startsWith("/")) {
-                            bp.append(basePath.get().substring(1));
-                        } else {
-                            bp.append(basePath.get());
-                        }
-                        if (bp.toString().endsWith("/")) {
-                            bp.setLength(bp.length() - 1);
-                        }
-                    }
-                    if (additionalPath != null) {
-                        if (!additionalPath.startsWith("/")) {
-                            bp.append("/");
-                        }
-                        bp.append(additionalPath);
-                        if (bp.toString().endsWith("/")) {
-                            bp.setLength(bp.length() - 1);
-                        }
-                    }
-                    basePathField.set(null, bp.toString());
+        RestAssured.port = port;
+
+        oldBaseURI = RestAssured.baseURI;
+        final String protocol = useSecureConnection ? "https://" : "http://";
+        String host = ConfigProvider.getConfig().getOptionalValue("quarkus.http.host", String.class)
+                .orElse("localhost");
+        if (host.equals("0.0.0.0")) {
+            host = "localhost";
+        }
+        RestAssured.baseURI = protocol + host;
+
+        oldBasePath = RestAssured.basePath;
+        Optional<String> basePath = ConfigProvider.getConfig().getOptionalValue("quarkus.http.root-path",
+                String.class);
+        if (basePath.isPresent() || additionalPath != null) {
+            StringBuilder bp = new StringBuilder();
+            if (basePath.isPresent()) {
+                if (basePath.get().startsWith("/")) {
+                    bp.append(basePath.get().substring(1));
+                } else {
+                    bp.append(basePath.get());
+                }
+                if (bp.toString().endsWith("/")) {
+                    bp.setLength(bp.length() - 1);
                 }
-            } catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
-                e.printStackTrace();
             }
-        }
-        if (configField != null) {
-            try {
-                Duration timeout = ConfigProvider.getConfig()
-                        .getOptionalValue("quarkus.http.test-timeout", Duration.class).orElse(Duration.ofSeconds(30));
-                configureTimeouts(timeout);
-            } catch (Exception e) {
-                e.printStackTrace();
+            if (additionalPath != null) {
+                if (!additionalPath.startsWith("/")) {
+                    bp.append("/");
+                }
+                bp.append(additionalPath);
+                if (bp.toString().endsWith("/")) {
+                    bp.setLength(bp.length() - 1);
+                }
             }
+            RestAssured.basePath = bp.toString();
         }
+
+        Duration timeout = ConfigProvider.getConfig()
+                .getOptionalValue("quarkus.http.test-timeout", Duration.class).orElse(Duration.ofSeconds(30));
+        configureTimeouts(timeout);
     }
 
-    /**
-     * Execute the following code:
-     *
-     * <pre>
-     * {@code
-     * RestAssured.config = RestAssured.config().httpClient(
-     * new HttpClientConfig()
-     * .setParam("http.conn-manager.timeout", 30_000L)
-     * .setParam("http.connection.timeout", 30_000)
-     * .setParam("http.socket.timeout", 30_000)
-     * }
-     * </pre>
-     *
-     */
-    private static void configureTimeouts(Duration d) throws Exception {
-        // Create the HTTP client config:
-        // new HttpClientConfig()
-        //   .setParam("http.conn-manager.timeout", 30_000L)
-        //   .setParam("http.connection.timeout", 30_000)
-        //   .setParam("http.socket.timeout", 30_000)
-
-        Object httpClientConfig = httpClientConfigClass.getDeclaredConstructor().newInstance();
-        httpClientConfig = setParamMethod.invoke(httpClientConfig, "http.conn-manager.timeout", d.toMillis());
-        httpClientConfig = setParamMethod.invoke(httpClientConfig, "http.connection.timeout", (int) d.toMillis());
-        httpClientConfig = setParamMethod.invoke(httpClientConfig, "http.socket.timeout", (int) d.toMillis());
-
-        // Retrieve RestAssured config
-        // restAssuredConfig = RestAssured.config();
-        Object restAssuredConfig = configMethod.invoke(null);
-
-        // Call httpClient method:
-        // restAssuredConfig = restAssuredConfig.httpClient(httpClientConfig);
-        restAssuredConfig = httpClientMethod.invoke(restAssuredConfig, httpClientConfig);
-
-        // Set the field
-        configField.set(null, restAssuredConfig);
+    private static void configureTimeouts(Duration d) {
+        oldRestAssuredConfig = RestAssured.config();
+
+        RestAssured.config = RestAssured.config().httpClient(new HttpClientConfig()
+                .setParam("http.conn-manager.timeout", d.toMillis()) // this needs to be long
+                .setParam("http.connection.timeout", (int) d.toMillis()) // this needs to be int
+                .setParam("http.socket.timeout", (int) d.toMillis())); // same here
     }
 
     public static void clearURL() {
-        if (portField != null) {
-            try {
-                portField.set(null, oldPort);
-            } catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
-                e.printStackTrace();
-            }
-        }
-        if (baseURIField != null) {
-            try {
-                baseURIField.set(null, oldBaseURI);
-            } catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
-                e.printStackTrace();
-            }
-        }
-        if (basePathField != null) {
-            try {
-                basePathField.set(null, oldBasePath);
-            } catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
-                e.printStackTrace();
-            }
+        if (!REST_ASSURED_PRESENT) {
+            return;
         }
+
+        RestAssured.port = oldPort;
+        RestAssured.baseURI = oldBaseURI;
+        RestAssured.basePath = oldBasePath;
+        RestAssured.config = (RestAssuredConfig) oldRestAssuredConfig;
     }
 }