diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 9e9aa895d5c..a163c66b6aa 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ if (MFEM_USE_CUDA)
       set(CUDA_FLAGS "-ccbin=${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER} ${CUDA_FLAGS}")
       set(CMAKE_CUDA_HOST_LINK_LAUNCHER ${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER})
    endif()
-   set(CMAKE_CUDA_FLAGS ${CMAKE_CUDA_FLAGS} ${CUDA_FLAGS})
+   set(CMAKE_CUDA_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CUDA_FLAGS} ${CUDA_FLAGS}")
    set(CUSPARSE_FOUND TRUE)
    set(CUSPARSE_LIBRARIES "cusparse")
    set(CUBLAS_FOUND TRUE)