diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 3b7be62a0..cc7f9d6a1 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ binaries=covtest example
 all: covtest example
 
 example: example.cpp settings.h crow.h http_server.h http_connection.h parser.h http_response.h routing.h common.h utility.h json.h datetime.h logging.h
-	g++ -Wall -g -O3 -std=c++1y -o example example.cpp http-parser/http_parser.c -pthread -lboost_system -lboost_thread -ltcmalloc_minimal -I http-parser/
+	${CXX} -Wall -g -O3 -std=c++1y -o example example.cpp http-parser/http_parser.c -pthread -lboost_system -lboost_thread -ltcmalloc_minimal -I http-parser/
 
 test: covtest
 
@@ -14,11 +14,11 @@ runtest: example
 	pkill example
 
 unittest: unittest.cpp routing.h utility.h crow.h http_server.h http_connection.h parser.h http_response.h common.h json.h datetime.h logging.h
-	g++ -Wall -g -std=c++1y -o unittest unittest.cpp http-parser/http_parser.c -pthread -lboost_system -lboost_thread -I http-parser/
+	${CXX} -Wall -g -std=c++1y -o unittest unittest.cpp http-parser/http_parser.c -pthread -lboost_system -lboost_thread -I http-parser/
 	./unittest
 
 covtest: unittest.cpp routing.h utility.h crow.h http_server.h http_connection.h parser.h http_response.h common.h json.h datetime.h logging.h
-	g++ -Wall -g -std=c++1y -o covtest --coverage unittest.cpp http-parser/http_parser.c -pthread -lboost_system -lboost_thread -I http-parser/
+	${CXX} -Wall -g -std=c++1y -o covtest --coverage unittest.cpp http-parser/http_parser.c -pthread -lboost_system -lboost_thread -I http-parser/
 	./covtest
 	gcov -r unittest.cpp