diff --git a/Makefile.dep b/Makefile.dep
index 871004638c..dcc82a2b86 100644
--- a/Makefile.dep
+++ b/Makefile.dep
@@ -1056,3 +1056,9 @@ USEPKG := $(sort $(USEPKG))
 ifneq ($(OLD_USEMODULE) $(OLD_USEPKG),$(USEMODULE) $(USEPKG))
   include $(RIOTBASE)/Makefile.dep
 endif
+
+# Add auto_init_% DEFAULT_MODULES. This is done after the recursive cach since
+# none of these modules can trigger dependency resolution.
+ifneq (,$(filter auto_init,$(USEMODULE)))
+  USEMODULE += $(filter auto_init_%,$(filter-out $(DISABLE_MODULE),$(DEFAULT_MODULE)))
+endif