diff --git a/pkg/envtest/envtest_test.go b/pkg/envtest/envtest_test.go
index 7214697e9d..ae30a8405a 100644
--- a/pkg/envtest/envtest_test.go
+++ b/pkg/envtest/envtest_test.go
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/types"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes/scheme"
-
+	"k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/client"
 )
 
@@ -682,6 +682,14 @@ var _ = Describe("Test", func() {
 		})
 	})
 
+	It("should set a working KubeConfig", func() {
+		kubeconfigRESTConfig, err := clientcmd.RESTConfigFromKubeConfig(env.KubeConfig)
+		Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+		kubeconfigClient, err := client.New(kubeconfigRESTConfig, client.Options{Scheme: s})
+		Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
+		Expect(kubeconfigClient.List(context.Background(), &apiextensionsv1.CustomResourceDefinitionList{})).To(Succeed())
+	})
+
 	It("should update CRDs if already present in the cluster", func() {
 
 		// Install only the CRDv1 multi-version example
diff --git a/pkg/envtest/server.go b/pkg/envtest/server.go
index 25eaa51879..9bb81ed2ab 100644
--- a/pkg/envtest/server.go
+++ b/pkg/envtest/server.go
@@ -126,6 +126,10 @@ type Environment struct {
 	// loading.
 	Config *rest.Config
 
+	// KubeConfig provides []byte of a kubeconfig file to talk to the apiserver
+	// It's automatically populated if not set based on the `Config`
+	KubeConfig []byte
+
 	// CRDInstallOptions are the options for installing CRDs.
 	CRDInstallOptions CRDInstallOptions
 
@@ -291,6 +295,14 @@ func (te *Environment) Start() (*rest.Config, error) {
 		te.Config = adminUser.Config()
 	}
 
+	if len(te.KubeConfig) == 0 {
+		var err error
+		te.KubeConfig, err = controlplane.KubeConfigFromREST(te.Config)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("unable to set KubeConfig field: %w", err)
+		}
+	}
+
 	// Set the default scheme if nil.
 	if te.Scheme == nil {
 		te.Scheme = scheme.Scheme