diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/phases/kubelet/flags.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/phases/kubelet/flags.go
index e2a8fdab022..b44cf5833cf 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/phases/kubelet/flags.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/phases/kubelet/flags.go
@@ -76,8 +76,6 @@ func WriteKubeletDynamicEnvFile(cfg *kubeadmapi.ClusterConfiguration, nodeReg *k
 func buildKubeletArgMapCommon(opts kubeletFlagsOpts) map[string]string {
 	kubeletFlags := map[string]string{}
 	kubeletFlags["container-runtime-endpoint"] = opts.nodeRegOpts.CRISocket
-	// container runtime is by default docker in kubelet v1.23, so it can be removed in v1.26
-	kubeletFlags["container-runtime"] = "remote"
 
 	// This flag passes the pod infra container image (e.g. "pause" image) to the kubelet
 	// and prevents its garbage collection
diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/phases/kubelet/flags_test.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/phases/kubelet/flags_test.go
index 38744153779..2edb0e0844b 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/phases/kubelet/flags_test.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/phases/kubelet/flags_test.go
@@ -42,7 +42,6 @@ func TestBuildKubeletArgMap(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 			},
 			expected: map[string]string{
-				"container-runtime":          "remote",
 				"container-runtime-endpoint": "unix:///var/run/containerd/containerd.sock",
 				"hostname-override":          "override-name",
 			},
@@ -68,7 +67,6 @@ func TestBuildKubeletArgMap(t *testing.T) {
 				registerTaintsUsingFlags: true,
 			},
 			expected: map[string]string{
-				"container-runtime":          "remote",
 				"container-runtime-endpoint": "unix:///var/run/containerd/containerd.sock",
 				"register-with-taints":       "foo=bar:baz,key=val:eff",
 			},
@@ -82,7 +80,6 @@ func TestBuildKubeletArgMap(t *testing.T) {
 				pauseImage: "registry.k8s.io/pause:3.8",
 			},
 			expected: map[string]string{
-				"container-runtime":          "remote",
 				"container-runtime-endpoint": "unix:///var/run/containerd/containerd.sock",
 				"pod-infra-container-image":  "registry.k8s.io/pause:3.8",
 			},