diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index dbcbd309ad..65164f7368 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -45,6 +45,9 @@ ALL_ARCH = amd64 arm arm64 ppc64le s390x
 
 QEMUVERSION=v2.9.1-1
 
+BUSTEDVERSION=2.0.rc12
+BUSTED_ARGS = -v
+
 IMGNAME = nginx-ingress-controller
 IMAGE = $(REGISTRY)/$(IMGNAME)
 MULTI_ARCH_IMG = $(IMAGE)-$(ARCH)
@@ -155,6 +158,18 @@ verify-all:
 test:
 	@go test -v -race -tags "$(BUILDTAGS) cgo" $(shell go list ${PKG}/... | grep -v vendor | grep -v '/test/e2e')
 
+.PHONY: lua-test
+lua-test:
+	@if luarocks list --porcelain busted $(BUSTEDVERSION) | grep -q "installed" ; then \
+		echo busted already installed, skipping ; \
+	else \
+		echo busted not found, installing via luarocks... ; \
+		luarocks install busted $(BUSTEDVERSION) ; \
+	fi
+	@for file in ./rootfs/etc/nginx/lua/test/*.lua; do \
+		busted $(BUSTED_ARGS) $$file ; \
+	done
+
 .PHONY: e2e-image
 e2e-image: sub-container-amd64
 	TAG=$(TAG) IMAGE=$(MULTI_ARCH_IMG) docker tag $(IMAGE):$(TAG) $(IMAGE):test
diff --git a/docs/development.md b/docs/development.md
index 4cc91f6c0b..df1cbb6004 100644
--- a/docs/development.md
+++ b/docs/development.md
@@ -99,6 +99,17 @@ $ cd $GOPATH/src/k8s.io/ingress-nginx
 $ make e2e-test
 ```
 
+To run unit-tests for lua code, run:
+
+```console
+$ cd $GOPATH/src/k8s.io/ingress-nginx
+$ make lua-test
+```
+
+Lua tests are located in `$GOPATH/src/k8s.io/ingress-nginx/rootfs/etc/nginx/lua/test`. 
+
+
+
 ## Releasing
 
 All Makefiles will produce a release binary, as shown above. To publish this