diff --git a/extensions/kubernetes/vanilla/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kubernetes/deployment/KnativeProcessor.java b/extensions/kubernetes/vanilla/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kubernetes/deployment/KnativeProcessor.java
index 4521092657436..5dbdae6a96256 100644
--- a/extensions/kubernetes/vanilla/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kubernetes/deployment/KnativeProcessor.java
+++ b/extensions/kubernetes/vanilla/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kubernetes/deployment/KnativeProcessor.java
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ public class KnativeProcessor {
     public void checkKnative(ApplicationInfoBuildItem applicationInfo, KnativeConfig config,
             BuildProducer<KubernetesDeploymentTargetBuildItem> deploymentTargets,
             BuildProducer<KubernetesResourceMetadataBuildItem> resourceMeta) {
-        List<String> targets = KubernetesConfigUtil.getUserSpecifiedDeploymentTargets();
+        List<String> targets = KubernetesConfigUtil.getConfiguratedDeploymentTargets();
         boolean knativeEnabled = targets.contains(KNATIVE);
         deploymentTargets.produce(
                 new KubernetesDeploymentTargetBuildItem(KNATIVE, KNATIVE_SERVICE, KNATIVE_SERVICE_GROUP,
diff --git a/extensions/kubernetes/vanilla/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kubernetes/deployment/KubernetesConfigUtil.java b/extensions/kubernetes/vanilla/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kubernetes/deployment/KubernetesConfigUtil.java
index 94ff4dbc039bb..0208f3f9f69cb 100644
--- a/extensions/kubernetes/vanilla/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kubernetes/deployment/KubernetesConfigUtil.java
+++ b/extensions/kubernetes/vanilla/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kubernetes/deployment/KubernetesConfigUtil.java
@@ -42,8 +42,21 @@ public class KubernetesConfigUtil {
 
     private static final Logger log = Logger.getLogger(KubernetesConfigUtil.class);
 
-    public static List<String> getUserSpecifiedDeploymentTargets() {
-        String deploymentTargets = getConfiguredDeploymentTarget().orElse("");
+    /**
+     * Get the explicit configured deployment target, if any.
+     * The explicit deployment target is determined using: `quarkus.kubernetes.deployment-target=<deployment-target>`
+     */
+    public static Optional<String> getExplicitlyConfiguredDeploymentTarget() {
+        Config config = ConfigProvider.getConfig();
+        return config.getOptionalValue(DEPLOYMENT_TARGET, String.class);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * The the explicitly configured deployment target list.
+     * The configured deployment targets are determined using: `quarkus.kubernetes.deployment-target=<deployment-target>`
+     */
+    public static List<String> getExplictilyDeploymentTargets() {
+        String deploymentTargets = getExplicitlyConfiguredDeploymentTarget().orElse("");
         if (deploymentTargets.isEmpty()) {
             return Collections.emptyList();
         }
@@ -71,7 +84,25 @@ public static Optional<String> getConfiguredDeploymentTarget() {
                 .filter(s -> s != null)
                 .findFirst();
 
-        return config.getOptionalValue(DEPLOYMENT_TARGET, String.class).or(() -> indirectTarget);
+        return getExplicitlyConfiguredDeploymentTarget().or(() -> indirectTarget);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * The the configured deployment target list.
+     * The configured deployment targets are determined using:
+     * 1. the value of `quarkus.kubernetes.deployment-target=<deployment-target>`
+     * 2. the presenve of `quarkus.<deployment-target>.deploy=true`
+     */
+    public static List<String> getConfiguratedDeploymentTargets() {
+        String deploymentTargets = getConfiguredDeploymentTarget().orElse("");
+        if (deploymentTargets.isEmpty()) {
+            return Collections.emptyList();
+        }
+        return Arrays.stream(deploymentTargets
+                .split(","))
+                .map(String::trim)
+                .map(String::toLowerCase)
+                .collect(Collectors.toList());
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/extensions/kubernetes/vanilla/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kubernetes/deployment/KubernetesDeployer.java b/extensions/kubernetes/vanilla/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kubernetes/deployment/KubernetesDeployer.java
index afff125908f2a..3dcab91d48a0c 100644
--- a/extensions/kubernetes/vanilla/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kubernetes/deployment/KubernetesDeployer.java
+++ b/extensions/kubernetes/vanilla/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kubernetes/deployment/KubernetesDeployer.java
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ private DeploymentTargetEntry determineDeploymentTarget(
 
         boolean checkForMissingRegistry = true;
         boolean checkForNamespaceGroupAlignment = false;
-        List<String> userSpecifiedDeploymentTargets = KubernetesConfigUtil.getUserSpecifiedDeploymentTargets();
+        List<String> userSpecifiedDeploymentTargets = KubernetesConfigUtil.getExplictilyDeploymentTargets();
         if (userSpecifiedDeploymentTargets.isEmpty()) {
             selectedTarget = targets.getEntriesSortedByPriority().get(0);
             if (targets.getEntriesSortedByPriority().size() > 1) {
diff --git a/extensions/kubernetes/vanilla/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kubernetes/deployment/OpenshiftProcessor.java b/extensions/kubernetes/vanilla/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kubernetes/deployment/OpenshiftProcessor.java
index ab4d53a5e0af4..2fc01290b51a9 100644
--- a/extensions/kubernetes/vanilla/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kubernetes/deployment/OpenshiftProcessor.java
+++ b/extensions/kubernetes/vanilla/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kubernetes/deployment/OpenshiftProcessor.java
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ public class OpenshiftProcessor {
     public void checkOpenshift(ApplicationInfoBuildItem applicationInfo, Capabilities capabilities, OpenshiftConfig config,
             BuildProducer<KubernetesDeploymentTargetBuildItem> deploymentTargets,
             BuildProducer<KubernetesResourceMetadataBuildItem> resourceMeta) {
-        List<String> targets = KubernetesConfigUtil.getUserSpecifiedDeploymentTargets();
+        List<String> targets = KubernetesConfigUtil.getConfiguratedDeploymentTargets();
         boolean openshiftEnabled = targets.contains(OPENSHIFT);
 
         DeploymentResourceKind deploymentResourceKind = config.getDeploymentResourceKind(capabilities);
diff --git a/extensions/kubernetes/vanilla/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kubernetes/deployment/VanillaKubernetesProcessor.java b/extensions/kubernetes/vanilla/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kubernetes/deployment/VanillaKubernetesProcessor.java
index 536ef3f2d35f2..60e5fc20c28e1 100644
--- a/extensions/kubernetes/vanilla/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kubernetes/deployment/VanillaKubernetesProcessor.java
+++ b/extensions/kubernetes/vanilla/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kubernetes/deployment/VanillaKubernetesProcessor.java
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ public void checkVanillaKubernetes(ApplicationInfoBuildItem applicationInfo, Cap
             BuildProducer<KubernetesResourceMetadataBuildItem> resourceMeta) {
         String kind = config.getDeploymentResourceKind(capabilities).kind;
 
-        List<String> userSpecifiedDeploymentTargets = KubernetesConfigUtil.getUserSpecifiedDeploymentTargets();
+        List<String> userSpecifiedDeploymentTargets = KubernetesConfigUtil.getConfiguratedDeploymentTargets();
         if (userSpecifiedDeploymentTargets.isEmpty() || userSpecifiedDeploymentTargets.contains(KUBERNETES)) {
             // when nothing was selected by the user, we enable vanilla Kubernetes by
             // default