diff --git a/bindep.txt b/bindep.txt
index b63dcdc207..0a5545fff5 100644
--- a/bindep.txt
+++ b/bindep.txt
@@ -30,9 +30,6 @@ libffi6 [platform:dpkg]
 libffi-devel [compile test platform:rpm]
 python3-dev [compile test platform:dpkg platform:apk]
 python3-devel [compile test platform:rpm]
-python-virtualenv [platform:dpkg]
-python3-virtualenv [platform:rpm]
-py3-virtualenv [compile test platform:apk]
 bubblewrap [!platform:ubuntu-xenial]
 libre2-dev [compile test platform:dpkg]
 libre2-4 [platform:ubuntu-bionic]
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index d24072886d..450b45b572 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 pbr>=1.1.0
+virtualenv
 
 github3.py>=1.1.0
 PyYAML>=3.1.0
diff --git a/zuul/lib/ansible.py b/zuul/lib/ansible.py
index 92c9738072..8bc13cb27f 100644
--- a/zuul/lib/ansible.py
+++ b/zuul/lib/ansible.py
@@ -92,7 +92,8 @@ class ManagedAnsible:
 
         # We don't use directly the venv module here because its behavior is
         # broken if we're already in a virtual environment.
-        cmd = ['virtualenv', '-p', python_executable, venv_path]
+        cmd = [sys.executable, '-m', 'virtualenv',
+               '-p', python_executable, venv_path]
         p = subprocess.run(cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
 
         if p.returncode != 0: