diff --git a/sys/include/net/gnrc/udp.h b/sys/include/net/gnrc/udp.h
index 2b19e98876..37528d87e8 100644
--- a/sys/include/net/gnrc/udp.h
+++ b/sys/include/net/gnrc/udp.h
@@ -33,10 +33,19 @@ extern "C" {
 #endif
 
 /**
- * @brief   Default message queue size for the UDP thread
+ * @defgroup net_gnrc_udp_conf  GNRC UDP compile configurations
+ * @ingroup  net_gnrc_conf
+ * @{
  */
-#ifndef GNRC_UDP_MSG_QUEUE_SIZE
-#define GNRC_UDP_MSG_QUEUE_SIZE (8U)
+/**
+ * @brief   Default message queue size for the UDP thread (as exponent of 2^n).
+ *
+ *          As the queue size ALWAYS needs to be power of two, this option
+ *          represents the exponent of 2^n, which will be used as the size of
+ *          the queue.
+ */
+#ifndef CONFIG_GNRC_UDP_MSG_QUEUE_SIZE_EXP
+#define CONFIG_GNRC_UDP_MSG_QUEUE_SIZE_EXP (3U)
 #endif
 
 /**
@@ -52,6 +61,14 @@ extern "C" {
 #ifndef GNRC_UDP_STACK_SIZE
 #define GNRC_UDP_STACK_SIZE     (THREAD_STACKSIZE_DEFAULT)
 #endif
+/** @} */
+
+/**
+ * @brief   Message queue size to use for the UDP thread.
+ */
+#ifndef GNRC_UDP_MSG_QUEUE_SIZE
+#define GNRC_UDP_MSG_QUEUE_SIZE    (1 << CONFIG_GNRC_UDP_MSG_QUEUE_SIZE_EXP)
+#endif
 
 /**
  * @brief   Calculate the checksum for the given packet