diff --git a/nginx-controller/controller/controller.go b/nginx-controller/controller/controller.go
index 01f03d9c9f..002e7fc275 100644
--- a/nginx-controller/controller/controller.go
+++ b/nginx-controller/controller/controller.go
@@ -329,6 +329,9 @@ func (lbc *LoadBalancerController) syncCfgm(key string) {
 				glog.Errorf("In configmap %v/%v 'http2' contains invalid declaration: %v, ignoring", cfgm.Namespace, cfgm.Name, err)
 			}
 		}
+		if logFormat, exists := cfgm.Data["log-format"]; exists {
+			cfg.MainLogFormat = logFormat
+		}
 	}
 	lbc.cnf.UpdateConfig(cfg)
 
diff --git a/nginx-controller/nginx/config.go b/nginx-controller/nginx/config.go
index 79cc0d41e3..d514829821 100644
--- a/nginx-controller/nginx/config.go
+++ b/nginx-controller/nginx/config.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ type Config struct {
 	HTTP2                         bool
 	MainServerNamesHashBucketSize string
 	MainServerNamesHashMaxSize    string
+	MainLogFormat                 string
 }
 
 // NewDefaultConfig creates a Config with default values
diff --git a/nginx-controller/nginx/configurator.go b/nginx-controller/nginx/configurator.go
index 3b1a18a3e2..9e92516991 100644
--- a/nginx-controller/nginx/configurator.go
+++ b/nginx-controller/nginx/configurator.go
@@ -329,6 +329,7 @@ func (cnf *Configurator) UpdateConfig(config *Config) {
 	mainCfg := &NginxMainConfig{
 		ServerNamesHashBucketSize: config.MainServerNamesHashBucketSize,
 		ServerNamesHashMaxSize:    config.MainServerNamesHashMaxSize,
+		LogFormat:                 config.MainLogFormat,
 	}
 
 	cnf.nginx.UpdateMainConfigFile(mainCfg)
diff --git a/nginx-controller/nginx/nginx.conf.tmpl b/nginx-controller/nginx/nginx.conf.tmpl
index c5803b323d..13cdf4ed0f 100644
--- a/nginx-controller/nginx/nginx.conf.tmpl
+++ b/nginx-controller/nginx/nginx.conf.tmpl
@@ -15,10 +15,13 @@ http {
     include       /etc/nginx/mime.types;
     default_type  application/octet-stream;
 
+    {{if .LogFormat -}}
+    log_format  main  '{{.LogFormat}}';
+    {{- else -}}
     log_format  main  '$remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local] "$request" '
                       '$status $body_bytes_sent "$http_referer" '
                       '"$http_user_agent" "$http_x_forwarded_for"';
-
+    {{- end }}
     access_log  /var/log/nginx/access.log  main;
 
     sendfile        on;
diff --git a/nginx-controller/nginx/nginx.go b/nginx-controller/nginx/nginx.go
index bb73a0919c..91bb815730 100644
--- a/nginx-controller/nginx/nginx.go
+++ b/nginx-controller/nginx/nginx.go
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ package nginx
 import (
 	"bytes"
 	"fmt"
-	"html/template"
+	"text/template"
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
 	"path"
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ type Location struct {
 type NginxMainConfig struct {
 	ServerNamesHashBucketSize string
 	ServerNamesHashMaxSize    string
+	LogFormat                 string
 }
 
 // NewUpstreamWithDefaultServer creates an upstream with the default server.