diff --git a/tests/riotboot/Makefile b/tests/riotboot/Makefile
index eb9a14e075..a170b83957 100644
--- a/tests/riotboot/Makefile
+++ b/tests/riotboot/Makefile
@@ -21,6 +21,11 @@ QUIET ?= 1
 # Thus default to that (instead of epoch set by makefiles/boot/riotboot.inc.mk).
 APP_VER?=0
 
+# Ensure both slot bin files are always generated and linked to avoid compiling
+# during the test. This ensures that "BUILD_IN_DOCKER=1 make test"
+# can rely on them being present without having to trigger re-compilation.
+BUILD_FILES += $(SLOT_RIOT_ELFS:%.elf=%.bin)
+
 # The test needs the linked slot binaries without header in order to be able to
 # create final binaries with specific APP_VER values. The CI RasPi test workers
 # don't compile themselves, thus add the required files here so they will be