diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/nixos-rebuild/nixos-rebuild.sh b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/nixos-rebuild/nixos-rebuild.sh
index cc72e2e42b4c..38b5e3241c1c 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/nixos-rebuild/nixos-rebuild.sh
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/nixos-rebuild/nixos-rebuild.sh
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ buildHostCmd() {
     if [ -z "$buildHost" ]; then
         "$@"
     elif [ -n "$remoteNix" ]; then
-        ssh $SSHOPTS "$buildHost" env PATH="$remoteNix:$PATH" "${maybeSudo[@]}" "$@"
+        ssh $SSHOPTS "$buildHost" env PATH="$remoteNix":'$PATH' "${maybeSudo[@]}" "$@"
     else
         ssh $SSHOPTS "$buildHost" "${maybeSudo[@]}" "$@"
     fi