diff --git a/mesonbuild/dependencies/pkgconfig.py b/mesonbuild/dependencies/pkgconfig.py
index 251c83ef092f..1e79fd3f5460 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/dependencies/pkgconfig.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/dependencies/pkgconfig.py
@@ -424,6 +424,9 @@ def check_pkgconfig(self, pkgbin: ExternalProgram) -> T.Optional[str]:
         if not pkgbin.found():
             mlog.log(f'Did not find pkg-config by name {pkgbin.name!r}')
             return None
+        if r'Strawberry\perl\bin' in pkgbin.get_path():
+            mlog.log(f'found pkg-config {!r} but it is Strawberry Perl and thus broken. Ignoring...'.format(' '.join(pkgbin.get_command())))
+            return None
         try:
             p, out = Popen_safe(pkgbin.get_command() + ['--version'])[0:2]
             if p.returncode != 0: