diff --git a/charts/consul/templates/connect-inject-deployment.yaml b/charts/consul/templates/connect-inject-deployment.yaml
index 6a0d2e7304..8eebcfe42f 100644
--- a/charts/consul/templates/connect-inject-deployment.yaml
+++ b/charts/consul/templates/connect-inject-deployment.yaml
@@ -141,6 +141,7 @@ spec:
             - "-ec"
             - |
               exec consul-k8s-control-plane inject-connect \
+                -config-file=/consul/config/config.json \
                 {{- if .Values.global.federation.enabled }}
                 -enable-federation \
                 {{- end }}
diff --git a/control-plane/subcommand/inject-connect/command.go b/control-plane/subcommand/inject-connect/command.go
index 68addfc7b2..125c46ea2a 100644
--- a/control-plane/subcommand/inject-connect/command.go
+++ b/control-plane/subcommand/inject-connect/command.go
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ type Command struct {
 	flagListen                string
 	flagCertDir               string // Directory with TLS certs for listening (PEM)
 	flagDefaultInject         bool   // True to inject by default
+	flagConfigFile            string // Path to a config file in JSON format
 	flagConsulImage           string // Docker image for Consul
 	flagConsulDataplaneImage  string // Docker image for Envoy
 	flagConsulK8sImage        string // Docker image for consul-k8s
@@ -174,6 +175,7 @@ func init() {
 func (c *Command) init() {
 	c.flagSet = flag.NewFlagSet("", flag.ContinueOnError)
 	c.flagSet.StringVar(&c.flagListen, "listen", ":8080", "Address to bind listener to.")
+	c.flagSet.StringVar(&c.flagConfigFile, "config-file", "", "Path to a JSON config file.")
 	c.flagSet.Var((*flags.FlagMapValue)(&c.flagNodeMeta), "node-meta",
 		"Metadata to set on the node, formatted as key=value. This flag may be specified multiple times to set multiple meta fields.")
 	c.flagSet.BoolVar(&c.flagDefaultInject, "default-inject", true, "Inject by default.")
diff --git a/control-plane/subcommand/inject-connect/v1controllers.go b/control-plane/subcommand/inject-connect/v1controllers.go
index 57fa8931dc..dd6b3be739 100644
--- a/control-plane/subcommand/inject-connect/v1controllers.go
+++ b/control-plane/subcommand/inject-connect/v1controllers.go
@@ -38,13 +38,15 @@ func (c *Command) configureControllers(ctx context.Context, mgr manager.Manager,
 	}
 
 	var cfgFile FileConfig
-	if file, err := os.ReadFile("/consul/config/config.json"); err != nil {
-		setupLog.Info("Failed to read config file, may not be present", "error", err)
-	} else {
-		if err := json.Unmarshal(file, &cfgFile); err != nil {
-			setupLog.Error(err, "Config file present but could not be deserialized, will use defaults")
+	if c.flagConfigFile != "" {
+		if file, err := os.ReadFile(c.flagConfigFile); err != nil {
+			setupLog.Info("Failed to read specified -config-file", "file", c.flagConfigFile, "error", err)
 		} else {
-			setupLog.Info("Config file present and deserialized", "config", cfgFile)
+			if err := json.Unmarshal(file, &cfgFile); err != nil {
+				setupLog.Error(err, "Config file present but could not be deserialized, will use defaults", "file", c.flagConfigFile)
+			} else {
+				setupLog.Info("Config file present and deserialized", "file", c.flagConfigFile, "config", cfgFile)
+			}
 		}
 	}