diff --git a/kong/cmd/utils/prefix_handler.lua b/kong/cmd/utils/prefix_handler.lua
index 87f675e43f8b..ea661fbf4ca0 100644
--- a/kong/cmd/utils/prefix_handler.lua
+++ b/kong/cmd/utils/prefix_handler.lua
@@ -239,6 +239,7 @@ local function compile_conf(kong_config, conf_template, template_env_inject)
   -- computed config properties for templating
   local compile_env = {
     _escape = ">",
+    proxy_access_log_enabled = kong_config.proxy_access_log ~= "off",
     pairs = pairs,
     ipairs = ipairs,
     tostring = tostring,
diff --git a/kong/templates/nginx_kong.lua b/kong/templates/nginx_kong.lua
index 283d6c6f0c93..2da98f9213d6 100644
--- a/kong/templates/nginx_kong.lua
+++ b/kong/templates/nginx_kong.lua
@@ -85,7 +85,12 @@ server {
     # https://github.com/Kong/lua-kong-nginx-module#lua_kong_error_log_request_id
     lua_kong_error_log_request_id $request_id;
 
+> if proxy_access_log_enabled then
     access_log ${{PROXY_ACCESS_LOG}} kong_log_format;
+> else
+    access_log off;
+> end
+
     error_log  ${{PROXY_ERROR_LOG}} ${{LOG_LEVEL}};
 
 > if proxy_ssl_enabled then
diff --git a/spec/01-unit/04-prefix_handler_spec.lua b/spec/01-unit/04-prefix_handler_spec.lua
index 50141e70c6c6..27b109fba1a0 100644
--- a/spec/01-unit/04-prefix_handler_spec.lua
+++ b/spec/01-unit/04-prefix_handler_spec.lua
@@ -496,6 +496,16 @@ describe("NGINX conf compiler", function()
         local nginx_conf = prefix_handler.compile_kong_stream_conf(conf)
         assert.matches("access_log%slogs/access.log%sbasic;", nginx_conf)
 
+        local conf = assert(conf_loader(nil, {
+          proxy_access_log = "off",
+          stream_listen = "0.0.0.0:9100",
+          nginx_stream_tcp_nodelay = "on",
+        }))
+        local nginx_conf = prefix_handler.compile_kong_conf(conf)
+        assert.matches("access_log%soff;", nginx_conf)
+        local nginx_conf = prefix_handler.compile_kong_stream_conf(conf)
+        assert.matches("access_log%slogs/access.log%sbasic;", nginx_conf)
+
         local conf = assert(conf_loader(nil, {
           proxy_stream_access_log = "/dev/stdout custom",
           stream_listen = "0.0.0.0:9100",