diff --git a/cmake/kconfig.cmake b/cmake/kconfig.cmake
index e1f2f1bf30..29b6fc86ca 100644
--- a/cmake/kconfig.cmake
+++ b/cmake/kconfig.cmake
@@ -94,28 +94,63 @@ foreach(f ${merge_config_files_with_absolute_paths})
   endif()
 endforeach()
 
+# Calculate a checksum of merge_config_files to determine if we need
+# to re-generate .config
+set(merge_config_files_checksum "")
+foreach(f ${merge_config_files_with_absolute_paths})
+  file(MD5 ${f} checksum)
+  set(merge_config_files_checksum "${merge_config_files_checksum}${checksum}")
+endforeach()
+
+# Create a new .config if it does not exists, or if the checksum of
+# the dependencies has changed
+set(merge_config_files_checksum_file ${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/.cmake.dotconfig.checksum)
+set(CREATE_NEW_DOTCONFIG "")
+if(NOT EXISTS ${DOTCONFIG})
+  set(CREATE_NEW_DOTCONFIG 1)
+else()
+  # Read out what the checksum was previously
+  file(READ
+    ${merge_config_files_checksum_file}
+    merge_config_files_checksum_prev
+    )
+  set(CREATE_NEW_DOTCONFIG 1)
+  if(
+      ${merge_config_files_checksum} STREQUAL
+      ${merge_config_files_checksum_prev}
+      )
+    set(CREATE_NEW_DOTCONFIG 0)
+  endif()
+endif()
+if(CREATE_NEW_DOTCONFIG)
+  execute_process(
+    COMMAND
+    ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE}
+    ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/scripts/kconfig/kconfig.py
+    ${KCONFIG_ROOT}
+    ${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/.config
+    ${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/include/generated/autoconf.h
+    ${merge_config_files}
+    WORKING_DIRECTORY ${APPLICATION_SOURCE_DIR}
+    # The working directory is set to the app dir such that the user
+    # can use relative paths in CONF_FILE, e.g. CONF_FILE=nrf5.conf
+    RESULT_VARIABLE ret
+  )
+  if(NOT "${ret}" STREQUAL "0")
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "command failed with return code: ${ret}")
+  endif()
+
+  file(WRITE
+    ${merge_config_files_checksum_file}
+    ${merge_config_files_checksum}
+    )
+endif()
+
 # Force CMAKE configure when the configuration files changes.
 foreach(merge_config_input ${merge_config_files} ${DOTCONFIG})
   set_property(DIRECTORY APPEND PROPERTY CMAKE_CONFIGURE_DEPENDS ${merge_config_input})
 endforeach()
 
-execute_process(
-  COMMAND
-  ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE}
-  ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/scripts/kconfig/kconfig.py
-  ${KCONFIG_ROOT}
-  ${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/.config
-  ${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/include/generated/autoconf.h
-  ${merge_config_files}
-  WORKING_DIRECTORY ${APPLICATION_SOURCE_DIR}
-  # The working directory is set to the app dir such that the user
-  # can use relative paths in CONF_FILE, e.g. CONF_FILE=nrf5.conf
-  RESULT_VARIABLE ret
-  )
-if(NOT "${ret}" STREQUAL "0")
-  message(FATAL_ERROR "command failed with return code: ${ret}")
-endif()
-
 add_custom_target(config-sanitycheck DEPENDS ${DOTCONFIG})
 
 # Parse the lines prefixed with CONFIG_ in the .config file from Kconfig