diff --git a/defaults/main.yml b/defaults/main.yml
index be212ec..606961f 100644
--- a/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/defaults/main.yml
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ nginx_org_modules: []
 nginx_ssl_level: intermediate
 nginx_ssl_session_cache_size: '8096k'
 nginx_ssl_session_timeout: '10m'
+nginx_ssl_stapling: true
 nginx_strict_transport_security_expire: 15768000
 nginx_strict_transport_security_include_subdomains: False
 
diff --git a/templates/nginx-server-ssl.conf.j2 b/templates/nginx-server-ssl.conf.j2
index bca2241..e0afbe8 100644
--- a/templates/nginx-server-ssl.conf.j2
+++ b/templates/nginx-server-ssl.conf.j2
@@ -38,8 +38,10 @@ ssl_ciphers ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDS
 ssl_prefer_server_ciphers off;
 {% endif %}
 {% if ansible_distribution_version is version_compare('14.04', '>=') %}
+{% if nginx_ssl_stapling %}
 ssl_stapling on;
 ssl_stapling_verify on;
+{% endif %}
 {% if letsencrypt_acme_install is defined and letsencrypt_acme_install %}
 ssl_trusted_certificate {{ letsencrypt_acme_certs_dir }}/fullchain;
 {% else %}