diff --git a/src/runtime/Makefile b/src/runtime/Makefile
index 2a6730d4ef..352280b393 100644
--- a/src/runtime/Makefile
+++ b/src/runtime/Makefile
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ DEFVIRTIOFSCACHE ?= auto
 #
 # see `virtiofsd -h` for possible options.
 # Make sure you quote args.
-DEFVIRTIOFSEXTRAARGS ?= []
+DEFVIRTIOFSEXTRAARGS ?= [\"--thread-pool-size=1\"]
 DEFENABLEIOTHREADS := false
 DEFENABLEMEMPREALLOC := false
 DEFENABLEHUGEPAGES := false