diff --git a/spec/compiler/config_spec.cr b/spec/compiler/config_spec.cr
index 1803638dde43..4dfceff7968d 100644
--- a/spec/compiler/config_spec.cr
+++ b/spec/compiler/config_spec.cr
@@ -4,9 +4,8 @@ require "./spec_helper"
 describe Crystal::Config do
   it ".host_target" do
     {% begin %}
-      # TODO: CRYSTAL_SPEC_COMPILER_BIN must be quoted (#11456)
-      {% compiler = (env("CRYSTAL_SPEC_COMPILER_BIN") || "bin/crystal").id %}
-      Crystal::Config.host_target.should eq Crystal::Codegen::Target.new({{ `#{compiler} --version`.lines[-1] }}.lchop("Default target: "))
+      {% host_triple = Crystal.constant("HOST_TRIPLE") || Crystal::DESCRIPTION.lines[-1].gsub(/^Default target: /, "") %}
+      Crystal::Config.host_target.should eq Crystal::Codegen::Target.new({{ host_triple }})
     {% end %}
   end
 
diff --git a/src/compiler/crystal/program.cr b/src/compiler/crystal/program.cr
index 97808279061c..936fc6a0a270 100644
--- a/src/compiler/crystal/program.cr
+++ b/src/compiler/crystal/program.cr
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ module Crystal
     # A `ProgressTracker` object which tracks compilation progress.
     property progress_tracker = ProgressTracker.new
 
-    property codegen_target = Config.host_target
+    getter codegen_target = Config.host_target
 
     getter predefined_constants = Array(Const).new
 
@@ -289,6 +289,8 @@ module Crystal
       define_crystal_string_constant "LIBRARY_RPATH", Crystal::CrystalLibraryPath.default_rpath
       define_crystal_string_constant "VERSION", Crystal::Config.version
       define_crystal_string_constant "LLVM_VERSION", Crystal::Config.llvm_version
+      define_crystal_string_constant "HOST_TRIPLE", Crystal::Config.host_target.to_s
+      define_crystal_string_constant "TARGET_TRIPLE", Crystal::Config.host_target.to_s
     end
 
     private def define_crystal_string_constant(name, value)
@@ -307,6 +309,11 @@ module Crystal
 
     property(target_machine : LLVM::TargetMachine) { codegen_target.to_target_machine }
 
+    def codegen_target=(@codegen_target : Codegen::Target) : Codegen::Target
+      crystal.types["TARGET_TRIPLE"].as(Const).value.as(StringLiteral).value = codegen_target.to_s
+      @codegen_target
+    end
+
     # Returns the `Type` for `Array(type)`
     def array_of(type)
       array.instantiate [type] of TypeVar