diff --git a/sys/include/net/gnrc/mac/mac.h b/sys/include/net/gnrc/mac/mac.h
index 983e1dd59b..39bd499c00 100644
--- a/sys/include/net/gnrc/mac/mac.h
+++ b/sys/include/net/gnrc/mac/mac.h
@@ -28,11 +28,22 @@
 extern "C" {
 #endif
 
+/**
+ * @brief   Default message queue size to use for the incoming packets (as
+ *          exponent of 2^n).
+ *
+ * As the queue size ALWAYS needs to be power of two, this option represents the
+ * exponent of 2^n, which will be used as the size of the queue.
+ */
+#ifndef CONFIG_GNRC_MAC_RX_QUEUE_SIZE_EXP
+#define CONFIG_GNRC_MAC_RX_QUEUE_SIZE_EXP   (3U)
+#endif
+
 /**
  * @brief   The default rx queue size for incoming packets
  */
 #ifndef GNRC_MAC_RX_QUEUE_SIZE
-#define GNRC_MAC_RX_QUEUE_SIZE             (8U)
+#define GNRC_MAC_RX_QUEUE_SIZE       (1 << CONFIG_GNRC_MAC_RX_QUEUE_SIZE_EXP)
 #endif
 
 /**