diff --git a/src/rustup-cli/self_update.rs b/src/rustup-cli/self_update.rs
index 2a6c998ebb..77c1c11118 100644
--- a/src/rustup-cli/self_update.rs
+++ b/src/rustup-cli/self_update.rs
@@ -981,7 +981,11 @@ fn get_add_path_methods() -> Vec<PathUpdateMethod> {
 
     if let Ok(shell) = env::var("SHELL") {
         if shell.contains("zsh") {
-            let zprofile = utils::home_dir().map(|p| p.join(".zprofile"));
+            let zdotdir = env::var("ZDOTDIR")
+                .ok()
+                .map(PathBuf::from)
+                .or_else(utils::home_dir);
+            let zprofile = zdotdir.map(|p| p.join(".zprofile"));
             profiles.push(zprofile);
         }
     }
diff --git a/src/rustup-mock/src/clitools.rs b/src/rustup-mock/src/clitools.rs
index 37ce7f1de2..be4e3bd9ff 100644
--- a/src/rustup-mock/src/clitools.rs
+++ b/src/rustup-mock/src/clitools.rs
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ pub fn setup(s: Scenario, f: &Fn(&Config)) {
     // Unset env variables that will break our testing
     env::remove_var("RUSTUP_TOOLCHAIN");
     env::remove_var("SHELL");
+    env::remove_var("ZDOTDIR");
 
     let exedir = TempDir::new("rustup-exe").unwrap();
     let distdir = TempDir::new("rustup-dist").unwrap();
diff --git a/tests/cli-self-upd.rs b/tests/cli-self-upd.rs
index c8cde87e33..3860c8672a 100644
--- a/tests/cli-self-upd.rs
+++ b/tests/cli-self-upd.rs
@@ -323,6 +323,48 @@ fn install_adds_path_to_profile() {
     install_adds_path_to_rc(".profile");
 }
 
+#[test]
+#[cfg(unix)]
+fn install_with_zsh_adds_path_to_zprofile() {
+    setup(&|config| {
+        let my_rc = "foo\nbar\nbaz";
+        let ref rc = config.homedir.join(".zprofile");
+        raw::write_file(rc, my_rc).unwrap();
+
+        let mut cmd = clitools::cmd(config, "rustup-init", &["-y"]);
+        cmd.env("SHELL", "zsh");
+        assert!(cmd.output().unwrap().status.success());
+
+        let new_rc = raw::read_file(rc).unwrap();
+        let addition = format!(r#"export PATH="{}/bin:$PATH""#,
+                               config.cargodir.display());
+        let expected = format!("{}\n{}\n", my_rc, addition);
+        assert_eq!(new_rc, expected);
+    });
+}
+
+#[test]
+#[cfg(unix)]
+fn install_with_zsh_adds_path_to_zdotdir_zprofile() {
+    setup(&|config| {
+        let zdotdir = TempDir::new("zdotdir").unwrap();
+        let my_rc = "foo\nbar\nbaz";
+        let ref rc = zdotdir.path().join(".zprofile");
+        raw::write_file(rc, my_rc).unwrap();
+
+        let mut cmd = clitools::cmd(config, "rustup-init", &["-y"]);
+        cmd.env("SHELL", "zsh");
+        cmd.env("ZDOTDIR", zdotdir.path());
+        assert!(cmd.output().unwrap().status.success());
+
+        let new_rc = raw::read_file(rc).unwrap();
+        let addition = format!(r#"export PATH="{}/bin:$PATH""#,
+                               config.cargodir.display());
+        let expected = format!("{}\n{}\n", my_rc, addition);
+        assert_eq!(new_rc, expected);
+    });
+}
+
 #[test]
 #[cfg(unix)]
 fn install_adds_path_to_rcfile_just_once() {