diff --git a/zephyr/Makefile b/zephyr/Makefile
index 9ddf121250..1d247af1a1 100644
--- a/zephyr/Makefile
+++ b/zephyr/Makefile
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ $(Z_SYSGEN_H):
 	-$(MAKE) -f Makefile.zephyr BOARD=$(BOARD) CONF_FILE=$(CONF_FILE)
 
 minimal:
-	$(MAKE) BOARD=$(BOARD) CFLAGS_EXTRA='-DMP_CONFIGFILE="<mpconfigport_minimal.h>"' FROZEN_DIR=
+	$(MAKE) BOARD=$(BOARD) CONF_FILE=prj_minimal.conf CFLAGS_EXTRA='-DMP_CONFIGFILE="<mpconfigport_minimal.h>"' FROZEN_DIR=
 
 # Clean Zephyr things too
 clean: z_clean
diff --git a/zephyr/mpconfigport_minimal.h b/zephyr/mpconfigport_minimal.h
index 4ecc03afb8..459b0816ca 100644
--- a/zephyr/mpconfigport_minimal.h
+++ b/zephyr/mpconfigport_minimal.h
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
 #define MICROPY_ENABLE_GC           (1)
 #define MICROPY_HELPER_REPL         (1)
 #define MICROPY_REPL_AUTO_INDENT    (1)
+#define MICROPY_KBD_EXCEPTION       (1)
 #define MICROPY_CPYTHON_COMPAT      (0)
 #define MICROPY_PY_ASYNC_AWAIT      (0)
 #define MICROPY_PY_ATTRTUPLE        (0)
diff --git a/zephyr/prj_minimal.conf b/zephyr/prj_minimal.conf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5d6b353ba3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zephyr/prj_minimal.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+CONFIG_STDOUT_CONSOLE=y
+CONFIG_CONSOLE_HANDLER=y
+CONFIG_UART_CONSOLE_DEBUG_SERVER_HOOKS=y
+CONFIG_NEWLIB_LIBC=y
+CONFIG_FLOAT=y
+CONFIG_MAIN_STACK_SIZE=4096