diff --git a/bom/application/pom.xml b/bom/application/pom.xml
index 796774b48b21a..c114491e620f6 100644
--- a/bom/application/pom.xml
+++ b/bom/application/pom.xml
@@ -189,9 +189,9 @@
         <google-http-client.version>1.38.0</google-http-client.version>
         <scram-client.version>2.1</scram-client.version>
         <!-- Make sure to check compatibility between these 2 gRPC components before upgrade -->
-        <grpc.version>1.35.0</grpc.version> <!-- when updating, verify if com.google.auth should not be updated too -->
-        <grpc-jprotoc.version>1.0.1</grpc-jprotoc.version>
-        <protobuf-java.version>3.14.0</protobuf-java.version>
+        <grpc.version>1.38.1</grpc.version> <!-- when updating, verify if com.google.auth should not be updated too -->
+        <grpc-jprotoc.version>1.2.0</grpc-jprotoc.version>
+        <protobuf-java.version>3.17.3</protobuf-java.version>
         <protoc.version>${protobuf-java.version}</protoc.version>
         <picocli.version>4.6.1</picocli.version>
         <google-cloud-functions.version>1.0.1</google-cloud-functions.version>
diff --git a/docs/src/main/asciidoc/grpc-getting-started.adoc b/docs/src/main/asciidoc/grpc-getting-started.adoc
index beea2eda9401a..25405017bf0c5 100644
--- a/docs/src/main/asciidoc/grpc-getting-started.adoc
+++ b/docs/src/main/asciidoc/grpc-getting-started.adoc
@@ -65,9 +65,12 @@ With this configuration, you can put your service and message definitions in the
 `quarkus-maven-plugin` will generate Java files from your `proto` files.
 
 `quarkus-maven-plugin` retrieves a version of `protoc` (the protobuf compiler) from Maven repositories. The retrieved version matches your operating system and CPU architecture.
-If this retrieved version does not work in your context, you can download the suitable binary and specify the location via
+If this retrieved version does not work in your context, you can either force to use a different OS classifier with
+`-Dquarkus.grpc.protoc-os-classifier=your-os-classifier` (e.g. `osx-x86_64`).
+You can also download the suitable binary and specify the location via
 `-Dquarkus.grpc.protoc-path=/path/to/protoc`.
 
+
 Alternatively to using the `generate-code` goal of the `quarkus-maven-plugin`, you can use `protobuf-maven-plugin` to generate these files, more in <<Generating Java files from proto with protobuf-maven-plugin>>
 
 Let's start with a simple _Hello_ service.
diff --git a/extensions/grpc/codegen/src/main/java/io/quarkus/grpc/deployment/GrpcCodeGen.java b/extensions/grpc/codegen/src/main/java/io/quarkus/grpc/deployment/GrpcCodeGen.java
index 3e83504fe61fa..91439bc10b1b0 100644
--- a/extensions/grpc/codegen/src/main/java/io/quarkus/grpc/deployment/GrpcCodeGen.java
+++ b/extensions/grpc/codegen/src/main/java/io/quarkus/grpc/deployment/GrpcCodeGen.java
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ public boolean trigger(CodeGenContext context) throws CodeGenException {
                         int resultCode = process.waitFor();
                         if (resultCode != 0) {
                             throw new CodeGenException("Failed to generate Java classes from proto files: " + protoFiles +
-                                    " to " + outDir.toAbsolutePath().toString());
+                                    " to " + outDir.toAbsolutePath());
                         }
                         return true;
                     }
@@ -199,7 +199,7 @@ private void initExecutables(Path workDir, AppModel model) throws CodeGenExcepti
         if (executables == null) {
             Path protocPath;
             String protocPathProperty = System.getProperty("quarkus.grpc.protoc-path");
-            String classifier = osClassifier();
+            String classifier = System.getProperty("quarkus.grpc.protoc-os-classifier", osClassifier());
             if (protocPathProperty == null) {
                 protocPath = findArtifactPath(model, PROTOC_GROUPID, PROTOC, classifier, EXE);
             } else {
@@ -310,7 +310,7 @@ private static Path writeScript(Path buildDir, Path pluginPath, String shebang,
 
     private static void writePluginExeCmd(Path pluginPath, BufferedWriter writer) throws IOException {
         writer.write("\"" + JavaBinFinder.findBin() + "\" -cp \"" +
-                pluginPath.toAbsolutePath().toString() + "\" " + quarkusProtocPluginMain);
+                pluginPath.toAbsolutePath() + "\" " + quarkusProtocPluginMain);
         writer.newLine();
     }
 
diff --git a/extensions/grpc/protoc/src/main/java/io/quarkus/grpc/protoc/plugin/MutinyGrpcGenerator.java b/extensions/grpc/protoc/src/main/java/io/quarkus/grpc/protoc/plugin/MutinyGrpcGenerator.java
index d4cdbdbc40d53..348b88c57c01d 100644
--- a/extensions/grpc/protoc/src/main/java/io/quarkus/grpc/protoc/plugin/MutinyGrpcGenerator.java
+++ b/extensions/grpc/protoc/src/main/java/io/quarkus/grpc/protoc/plugin/MutinyGrpcGenerator.java
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.logging.Level;
 import java.util.logging.Logger;
@@ -35,6 +36,11 @@ private String getMethodJavaDocPrefix() {
         return "        ";
     }
 
+    @Override
+    protected List<PluginProtos.CodeGeneratorResponse.Feature> supportedFeatures() {
+        return Collections.singletonList(PluginProtos.CodeGeneratorResponse.Feature.FEATURE_PROTO3_OPTIONAL);
+    }
+
     @Override
     public List<PluginProtos.CodeGeneratorResponse.File> generateFiles(PluginProtos.CodeGeneratorRequest request)
             throws GeneratorException {
diff --git a/extensions/grpc/stubs/pom.xml b/extensions/grpc/stubs/pom.xml
index 6e3ef43a0e3f7..5c41b5399a993 100644
--- a/extensions/grpc/stubs/pom.xml
+++ b/extensions/grpc/stubs/pom.xml
@@ -21,6 +21,28 @@
             <groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
             <artifactId>quarkus-mutiny</artifactId>
         </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>io.grpc</groupId>
+            <artifactId>grpc-protobuf</artifactId>
+            <exclusions>
+                <exclusion>
+                    <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
+                    <artifactId>animal-sniffer-annotations</artifactId>
+                </exclusion>
+                <exclusion>
+                    <groupId>org.checkerframework</groupId>
+                    <artifactId>checker-qual</artifactId>
+                </exclusion>
+                <exclusion>
+                    <groupId>com.google.guava</groupId>
+                    <artifactId>guava</artifactId>
+                </exclusion>
+                <exclusion>
+                    <groupId>com.google.errorprone</groupId>
+                    <artifactId>error_prone_annotations</artifactId>
+                </exclusion>
+            </exclusions>
+        </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>io.grpc</groupId>
             <artifactId>grpc-stub</artifactId>