diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/from_md/release-notes/rl-2205.section.xml b/nixos/doc/manual/from_md/release-notes/rl-2205.section.xml
index eb7ad6025da4..34bfbad7f635 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/from_md/release-notes/rl-2205.section.xml
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/from_md/release-notes/rl-2205.section.xml
@@ -1358,6 +1358,16 @@ Existing 3rd party modules that provided similar functionality, like <literal>pu
           <literal>otelcorecol</literal> and enjoy a 7x smaller binary.
         </para>
       </listitem>
+      <listitem>
+        <para>
+          <literal>services.zookeeper</literal> has a new option
+          <literal>jre</literal> for specifying the JRE to start
+          zookeeper with. It defaults to the JRE that
+          <literal>pkgs.zookeeper</literal> was wrapped with, instead of
+          <literal>pkgs.jre</literal>. This changes the JRE to
+          <literal>pkgs.jdk11_headless</literal> by default.
+        </para>
+      </listitem>
       <listitem>
         <para>
           <literal>pkgs.pgadmin</literal> now refers to
diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2205.section.md b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2205.section.md
index dffa9b4aec88..a83a7ba2b561 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2205.section.md
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2205.section.md
@@ -541,6 +541,10 @@ In addition to numerous new and upgraded packages, this release has the followin
   you should change the package you refer to. If you don't need them update your
   commands from `otelcontribcol` to `otelcorecol` and enjoy a 7x smaller binary.
 
+- `services.zookeeper` has a new option `jre` for specifying the JRE to start
+  zookeeper with. It defaults to the JRE that `pkgs.zookeeper` was wrapped with,
+  instead of `pkgs.jre`. This changes the JRE to `pkgs.jdk11_headless` by default.
+
 - `pkgs.pgadmin` now refers to `pkgs.pgadmin4`. `pgadmin3` has been removed.
 
 - `pkgs.noto-fonts-cjk` is now deprecated in favor of `pkgs.noto-fonts-cjk-sans`
diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/misc/zookeeper.nix b/nixos/modules/services/misc/zookeeper.nix
index 3809a93a61e1..fefbf9a86de4 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/misc/zookeeper.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/misc/zookeeper.nix
@@ -114,6 +114,13 @@ in {
       type = types.package;
     };
 
+    jre = mkOption {
+      description = "The JRE with which to run Zookeeper";
+      default = cfg.package.jre;
+      defaultText = literalExpression "pkgs.zookeeper.jre";
+      example = literalExpression "pkgs.jre";
+      type = types.package;
+    };
   };
 
 
@@ -131,7 +138,7 @@ in {
       after = [ "network.target" ];
       serviceConfig = {
         ExecStart = ''
-          ${pkgs.jre}/bin/java \
+          ${cfg.jre}/bin/java \
             -cp "${cfg.package}/lib/*:${configDir}" \
             ${escapeShellArgs cfg.extraCmdLineOptions} \
             -Dzookeeper.datadir.autocreate=false \
diff --git a/pkgs/servers/zookeeper/default.nix b/pkgs/servers/zookeeper/default.nix
index f00c749557f1..41603da33be3 100644
--- a/pkgs/servers/zookeeper/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/servers/zookeeper/default.nix
@@ -37,8 +37,11 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     runHook postInstall
   '';
 
-  passthru.tests = {
-    nixos = nixosTests.zookeeper;
+  passthru = {
+    tests = {
+      nixos = nixosTests.zookeeper;
+    };
+    inherit jre;
   };
 
   meta = with lib; {