diff --git a/src/libs/utils/commandline.cpp b/src/libs/utils/commandline.cpp
index 4eeb203cddf..913d318466c 100644
--- a/src/libs/utils/commandline.cpp
+++ b/src/libs/utils/commandline.cpp
@@ -1588,6 +1588,18 @@ CommandLine CommandLine::toLocal() const
     return cmd;
 }
 
+QStringList ProcessArgs::filterSimpleArgs(const QString &args, OsType osType)
+{
+    QStringList result;
+    QString args_ = args;
+    for (ArgIterator ait(&args_, osType); ait.next(); ) {
+        // This filters out items containing e.g. shell variables like '$FOO'
+        if (ait.isSimple())
+            result << ait.value();
+    }
+    return result;
+}
+
 QTCREATOR_UTILS_EXPORT bool operator==(const CommandLine &first, const CommandLine &second)
 {
     return first.m_executable == second.m_executable && first.m_arguments == second.m_arguments;
diff --git a/src/libs/utils/commandline.h b/src/libs/utils/commandline.h
index 82ab2a60b05..0fc6862c78d 100644
--- a/src/libs/utils/commandline.h
+++ b/src/libs/utils/commandline.h
@@ -53,6 +53,9 @@ public:
     static QStringList splitArgs(const QString &cmd, OsType osType,
                                  bool abortOnMeta = false, SplitError *err = nullptr,
                                  const Environment *env = nullptr, const QString &pwd = {});
+    //! Split a shell command into separate arguments and drop complex ones
+    //! as input for the internal .pro parser.
+    static QStringList filterSimpleArgs(const QString &cmd, OsType osType);
 
     using FindMacro = std::function<int(const QString &str, int *pos, QString *ret)>;
 
@@ -89,20 +92,6 @@ public:
         OsType m_osType;
     };
 
-    class QTCREATOR_UTILS_EXPORT ConstArgIterator
-    {
-    public:
-        ConstArgIterator(const QString &str, OsType osType = HostOsInfo::hostOs())
-            : m_str(str), m_ait(&m_str, osType)
-        {}
-        bool next() { return m_ait.next(); }
-        bool isSimple() const { return m_ait.isSimple(); }
-        QString value() const { return m_ait.value(); }
-
-    private:
-        QString m_str;
-        ArgIterator m_ait;
-    };
 };
 
 class QTCREATOR_UTILS_EXPORT RunResult
diff --git a/src/plugins/qmakeprojectmanager/qmakestep.cpp b/src/plugins/qmakeprojectmanager/qmakestep.cpp
index a8b5074f8de..42c41500cdf 100644
--- a/src/plugins/qmakeprojectmanager/qmakestep.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/qmakeprojectmanager/qmakestep.cpp
@@ -375,15 +375,11 @@ QString QMakeStep::effectiveQMakeCall() const
 
 QStringList QMakeStep::parserArguments()
 {
-    // NOTE: extra parser args placed before the other args intentionally
-    QStringList result = m_extraParserArgs;
     QtVersion *qt = QtKitAspect::qtVersion(kit());
     QTC_ASSERT(qt, return {});
-    for (ProcessArgs::ConstArgIterator ait(allArguments(qt, ArgumentFlag::Expand)); ait.next(); ) {
-        if (ait.isSimple())
-            result << ait.value();
-    }
-    return result;
+    const QString allArgs = allArguments(qt, ArgumentFlag::Expand);
+    // NOTE: extra parser args placed before the other args intentionally
+    return m_extraParserArgs + ProcessArgs::filterSimpleArgs(allArgs, qt->qmakeFilePath().osType());
 }
 
 QString QMakeStep::mkspec() const