diff --git a/doc/source/installation.rst b/doc/source/installation.rst
index 7dd3d9a10..fd8f8b3e1 100644
--- a/doc/source/installation.rst
+++ b/doc/source/installation.rst
@@ -114,6 +114,12 @@ jenkins section
 **url**
   The base URL for your Jenkins installation.
 
+**query_plugins_info**
+  Whether to query the Jenkins instance for plugin info when a configuration
+  file is provided. If a configuration file is not provided `jenkins-jobs` will
+  ignore this setting and skip querying for plugin information. True by
+  default.
+
 
 Running
 -------
diff --git a/etc/jenkins_jobs.ini-sample b/etc/jenkins_jobs.ini-sample
index 58b670680..bb1744742 100644
--- a/etc/jenkins_jobs.ini-sample
+++ b/etc/jenkins_jobs.ini-sample
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ allow_duplicates=False
 user=jenkins
 password=1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef
 url=https://jenkins.example.com
+query_plugins_info=False
 ##### This is deprecated, use job_builder section instead
 #ignore_cache=True
 
diff --git a/jenkins_jobs/cmd.py b/jenkins_jobs/cmd.py
index 8c1105994..f992add12 100755
--- a/jenkins_jobs/cmd.py
+++ b/jenkins_jobs/cmd.py
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ allow_empty_variables=False
 url=http://localhost:8080/
 user=
 password=
+query_plugins_info=True
 
 [hipchat]
 authtoken=dummy
@@ -238,6 +239,11 @@ def execute(options, config):
         if not isinstance(plugins_info, list):
             raise JenkinsJobsException("{0} must contain a Yaml list!"
                                        .format(options.plugins_info_path))
+    elif (not options.conf or not
+          config.getboolean("jenkins", "query_plugins_info")):
+        logger.debug("Skipping plugin info retrieval")
+        plugins_info = {}
+
     if options.allow_empty_variables is not None:
         config.set('job_builder',
                    'allow_empty_variables',
diff --git a/tests/cmd/fixtures/disable-query-plugins.conf b/tests/cmd/fixtures/disable-query-plugins.conf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..02f5a9391
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/cmd/fixtures/disable-query-plugins.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[jenkins]
+url=http://test-jenkins.with.non.default.url:8080/
+query_plugins_info=False
diff --git a/tests/cmd/subcommands/test_test.py b/tests/cmd/subcommands/test_test.py
index 037c29539..a1697fe47 100644
--- a/tests/cmd/subcommands/test_test.py
+++ b/tests/cmd/subcommands/test_test.py
@@ -264,3 +264,30 @@ class TestJenkinsGetPluginInfoError(CmdTestsBase):
                 self.fail("jenkins.JenkinsException propagated to main")
             except:
                 pass  # only care about jenkins.JenkinsException for now
+
+    @mock.patch('jenkins.Jenkins.get_plugins_info')
+    def test_skip_plugin_retrieval_if_no_config_provided(
+            self, get_plugins_info_mock):
+        """
+        Verify that retrieval of information from Jenkins instance about its
+        plugins will be skipped when run if no config file provided.
+        """
+        with mock.patch('sys.stdout'):
+            cmd.main(['test', os.path.join(self.fixtures_path,
+                                           'cmd-001.yaml')])
+        self.assertFalse(get_plugins_info_mock.called)
+
+    @mock.patch('jenkins.Jenkins.get_plugins_info')
+    def test_skip_plugin_retrieval_if_disabled(self, get_plugins_info_mock):
+        """
+        Verify that retrieval of information from Jenkins instance about its
+        plugins will be skipped when run if a config file provided and disables
+        querying through a config option.
+        """
+        with mock.patch('sys.stdout'):
+            cmd.main(['--conf',
+                      os.path.join(self.fixtures_path,
+                                   'disable-query-plugins.conf'),
+                      'test',
+                      os.path.join(self.fixtures_path, 'cmd-001.yaml')])
+        self.assertFalse(get_plugins_info_mock.called)