diff --git a/nixos/tests/installed-tests/appstream.nix b/nixos/tests/installed-tests/appstream.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..f71a095d4452
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nixos/tests/installed-tests/appstream.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+{ pkgs, makeInstalledTest, ... }:
+
+makeInstalledTest {
+  tested = pkgs.appstream;
+
+  testConfig = {
+    appstream.enable = true;
+  };
+}
diff --git a/nixos/tests/installed-tests/default.nix b/nixos/tests/installed-tests/default.nix
index 08785e5e6669..e6e1386a3731 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/installed-tests/default.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/installed-tests/default.nix
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ let
 in
 
 {
+  appstream = callInstalledTest ./appstream.nix {};
   colord = callInstalledTest ./colord.nix {};
   flatpak = callInstalledTest ./flatpak.nix {};
   flatpak-builder = callInstalledTest ./flatpak-builder.nix {};
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/appstream/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/appstream/default.nix
index 767cc447d140..d1d6ddcaf202 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/appstream/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/appstream/default.nix
@@ -22,13 +22,14 @@
 , gperf
 , vala
 , curl
+, nixosTests
 }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   pname = "appstream";
   version = "0.15.2";
 
-  outputs = [ "out" "dev" ];
+  outputs = [ "out" "dev" "installedTests" ];
 
   src = fetchFromGitHub {
     owner = "ximion";
@@ -43,6 +44,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
       src = ./fix-paths.patch;
       libstemmer_includedir = "${lib.getDev libstemmer}/include";
     })
+
+    # Allow installing installed tests to a separate output.
+    ./installed-tests-path.patch
   ];
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [
@@ -75,8 +79,15 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     "-Dapidocs=false"
     "-Ddocs=false"
     "-Dvapi=true"
+    "-Dinstalled_test_prefix=${placeholder "installedTests"}"
   ];
 
+  passthru = {
+    tests = {
+      installed-tests = nixosTests.installed-tests.appstream;
+    };
+  };
+
   meta = with lib; {
     description = "Software metadata handling library";
     homepage = "https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Distributions/AppStream/";
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/appstream/installed-tests-path.patch b/pkgs/development/libraries/appstream/installed-tests-path.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..188c1e525890
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/appstream/installed-tests-path.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
+index 8dd8e0c7..e2a30b06 100644
+--- a/meson_options.txt
++++ b/meson_options.txt
+@@ -44,6 +44,11 @@ option('install-docs',
+        value : true,
+        description : 'Install documentation for API and specification'
+ )
++option('installed_test_prefix',
++       type : 'string',
++       value : '',
++       description : 'Prefix for installed tests'
++)
+ 
+ #
+ # For development
+diff --git a/tests/installed-tests/meson.build b/tests/installed-tests/meson.build
+index 405820ce..f592a753 100644
+--- a/tests/installed-tests/meson.build
++++ b/tests/installed-tests/meson.build
+@@ -10,5 +10,5 @@ configure_file(
+     output : 'metainfo-validate.test',
+     configuration : itconf,
+     install: true,
+-    install_dir: join_paths('share', 'installed-tests', 'appstream'),
++    install_dir: join_paths(get_option('installed_test_prefix'), 'share', 'installed-tests', 'appstream'),
+ )