diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index ffa87ba87..7c999fdeb 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -4,9 +4,9 @@ version = 3
 
 [[package]]
 name = "addr2line"
-version = "0.24.1"
+version = "0.24.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "f5fb1d8e4442bd405fdfd1dacb42792696b0cf9cb15882e5d097b742a676d375"
+checksum = "dfbe277e56a376000877090da837660b4427aad530e3028d44e0bffe4f89a1c1"
 dependencies = [
  "gimli",
 ]
@@ -634,9 +634,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "cc"
-version = "1.1.24"
+version = "1.1.28"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "812acba72f0a070b003d3697490d2b55b837230ae7c6c6497f05cc2ddbb8d938"
+checksum = "2e80e3b6a3ab07840e1cae9b0666a63970dc28e8ed5ffbcdacbfc760c281bfc1"
 dependencies = [
  "jobserver",
  "libc",
@@ -709,9 +709,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "clap"
-version = "4.5.19"
+version = "4.5.20"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "7be5744db7978a28d9df86a214130d106a89ce49644cbc4e3f0c22c3fba30615"
+checksum = "b97f376d85a664d5837dbae44bf546e6477a679ff6610010f17276f686d867e8"
 dependencies = [
  "clap_builder",
  "clap_derive",
@@ -729,9 +729,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "clap_builder"
-version = "4.5.19"
+version = "4.5.20"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "a5fbc17d3ef8278f55b282b2a2e75ae6f6c7d4bb70ed3d0382375104bfafdb4b"
+checksum = "19bc80abd44e4bed93ca373a0704ccbd1b710dc5749406201bb018272808dc54"
 dependencies = [
  "anstream",
  "anstyle",
@@ -741,18 +741,18 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "clap_complete"
-version = "4.5.32"
+version = "4.5.33"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "74a01f4f9ee6c066d42a1c8dedf0dcddad16c72a8981a309d6398de3a75b0c39"
+checksum = "9646e2e245bf62f45d39a0f3f36f1171ad1ea0d6967fd114bca72cb02a8fcdfb"
 dependencies = [
  "clap",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "clap_complete_nushell"
-version = "4.5.3"
+version = "4.5.4"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "5fe32110e006bccf720f8c9af3fee1ba7db290c724eab61544e1d3295be3a40e"
+checksum = "315902e790cc6e5ddd20cbd313c1d0d49db77f191e149f96397230fb82a17677"
 dependencies = [
  "clap",
  "clap_complete",
@@ -1357,6 +1357,12 @@ version = "1.0.7"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "3f9eec918d3f24069decb9af1554cad7c880e2da24a9afd88aca000531ab82c1"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "foldhash"
+version = "0.1.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "f81ec6369c545a7d40e4589b5597581fa1c441fe1cce96dd1de43159910a36a2"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "foreign-types"
 version = "0.3.2"
@@ -1577,9 +1583,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "gimli"
-version = "0.31.0"
+version = "0.31.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "32085ea23f3234fc7846555e85283ba4de91e21016dc0455a16286d87a292d64"
+checksum = "07e28edb80900c19c28f1072f2e8aeca7fa06b23cd4169cefe1af5aa3260783f"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "glob"
@@ -1732,6 +1738,11 @@ name = "hashbrown"
 version = "0.15.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "1e087f84d4f86bf4b218b927129862374b72199ae7d8657835f1e89000eea4fb"
+dependencies = [
+ "allocator-api2",
+ "equivalent",
+ "foldhash",
+]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "hashlink"
@@ -1891,9 +1902,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "http-content-range"
-version = "0.1.2"
+version = "0.1.3"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "9f0d1a8ef218a86416107794b34cc446958d9203556c312bb41eab4c924c1d2e"
+checksum = "162948b27201b0f0eb2691726b03694ecab6d670916949796f9e6cb3637c4e7c"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "http-serde"
@@ -2000,7 +2011,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "http 1.1.0",
  "hyper 1.4.1",
  "hyper-util",
- "rustls 0.23.13",
+ "rustls 0.23.14",
  "rustls-native-certs",
  "rustls-pki-types",
  "tokio",
@@ -2211,9 +2222,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "ipnet"
-version = "2.10.0"
+version = "2.10.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "187674a687eed5fe42285b40c6291f9a01517d415fad1c3cbc6a9f778af7fcd4"
+checksum = "ddc24109865250148c2e0f3d25d4f0f479571723792d3802153c60922a4fb708"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "is_ci"
@@ -2428,11 +2439,11 @@ checksum = "a7a70ba024b9dc04c27ea2f0c0548feb474ec5c54bba33a7f72f873a39d07b24"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "lru"
-version = "0.12.4"
+version = "0.12.5"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "37ee39891760e7d94734f6f63fedc29a2e4a152f836120753a72503f09fcf904"
+checksum = "234cf4f4a04dc1f57e24b96cc0cd600cf2af460d4161ac5ecdd0af8e1f3b2a38"
 dependencies = [
- "hashbrown 0.14.5",
+ "hashbrown 0.15.0",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -2581,9 +2592,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "minijinja"
-version = "1.0.14"
+version = "2.3.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "fe5b00f90b3542f74bb9aaaccd2627920c16367787de103883461365580e5481"
+checksum = "1028b628753a7e1a88fc59c9ba4b02ecc3bc0bd3c7af23df667bc28df9b3310e"
 dependencies = [
  "aho-corasick",
  "serde",
@@ -2790,21 +2801,18 @@ checksum = "830b246a0e5f20af87141b25c173cd1b609bd7779a4617d6ec582abaf90870f3"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "object"
-version = "0.36.4"
+version = "0.36.5"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "084f1a5821ac4c651660a94a7153d27ac9d8a53736203f58b31945ded098070a"
+checksum = "aedf0a2d09c573ed1d8d85b30c119153926a2b36dce0ab28322c09a117a4683e"
 dependencies = [
  "memchr",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "once_cell"
-version = "1.20.1"
+version = "1.20.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "82881c4be219ab5faaf2ad5e5e5ecdff8c66bd7402ca3160975c93b24961afd1"
-dependencies = [
- "portable-atomic",
-]
+checksum = "1261fe7e33c73b354eab43b1273a57c8f967d0391e80353e51f764ac02cf6775"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "openssl"
@@ -3115,18 +3123,18 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "pin-project"
-version = "1.1.5"
+version = "1.1.6"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "b6bf43b791c5b9e34c3d182969b4abb522f9343702850a2e57f460d00d09b4b3"
+checksum = "baf123a161dde1e524adf36f90bc5d8d3462824a9c43553ad07a8183161189ec"
 dependencies = [
  "pin-project-internal",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "pin-project-internal"
-version = "1.1.5"
+version = "1.1.6"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "2f38a4412a78282e09a2cf38d195ea5420d15ba0602cb375210efbc877243965"
+checksum = "a4502d8515ca9f32f1fb543d987f63d95a14934883db45bdb48060b6b69257f8"
 dependencies = [
  "proc-macro2",
  "quote",
@@ -3228,9 +3236,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "proc-macro2"
-version = "1.0.86"
+version = "1.0.87"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "5e719e8df665df0d1c8fbfd238015744736151d4445ec0836b8e628aae103b77"
+checksum = "b3e4daa0dcf6feba26f985457cdf104d4b4256fc5a09547140f3631bb076b19a"
 dependencies = [
  "unicode-ident",
 ]
@@ -3296,7 +3304,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "quinn-proto",
  "quinn-udp",
  "rustc-hash",
- "rustls 0.23.13",
+ "rustls 0.23.14",
  "socket2",
  "thiserror",
  "tokio",
@@ -3313,7 +3321,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "rand",
  "ring",
  "rustc-hash",
- "rustls 0.23.13",
+ "rustls 0.23.14",
  "slab",
  "thiserror",
  "tinyvec",
@@ -3471,6 +3479,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "indicatif",
  "insta",
  "itertools 0.13.0",
+ "lazy_static",
  "marked-yaml",
  "memchr",
  "memmap2 0.9.5",
@@ -4084,7 +4093,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "percent-encoding",
  "pin-project-lite",
  "quinn",
- "rustls 0.23.13",
+ "rustls 0.23.14",
  "rustls-native-certs",
  "rustls-pemfile 2.2.0",
  "rustls-pki-types",
@@ -4289,9 +4298,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "rustls"
-version = "0.23.13"
+version = "0.23.14"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "f2dabaac7466917e566adb06783a81ca48944c6898a1b08b9374106dd671f4c8"
+checksum = "415d9944693cb90382053259f89fbb077ea730ad7273047ec63b19bc9b160ba8"
 dependencies = [
  "once_cell",
  "ring",
@@ -4382,9 +4391,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "schannel"
-version = "0.1.24"
+version = "0.1.26"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "e9aaafd5a2b6e3d657ff009d82fbd630b6bd54dd4eb06f21693925cdf80f9b8b"
+checksum = "01227be5826fa0690321a2ba6c5cd57a19cf3f6a09e76973b58e61de6ab9d1c1"
 dependencies = [
  "windows-sys 0.59.0",
 ]
@@ -4688,9 +4697,9 @@ checksum = "d66dc143e6b11c1eddc06d5c423cfc97062865baf299914ab64caa38182078fe"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "simd-json"
-version = "0.14.0"
+version = "0.14.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "05f0b376aada35f30a0012f5790e50aed62f91804a0682669aefdbe81c7fcb91"
+checksum = "bfa5500f67df6466a45c6f83d1aada89fe0f7e9b17afec424ea06feee0906549"
 dependencies = [
  "getrandom",
  "halfbrown",
@@ -5174,7 +5183,7 @@ version = "0.26.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "0c7bc40d0e5a97695bb96e27995cd3a08538541b0a846f65bba7a359f36700d4"
 dependencies = [
- "rustls 0.23.13",
+ "rustls 0.23.14",
  "rustls-pki-types",
  "tokio",
 ]
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index bdff303aa..c6d4797c2 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -61,8 +61,8 @@ content_inspector = "0.2.4"
 serde_with = "3.11.0"
 url = "2.5.2"
 tracing = "0.1.40"
-clap = { version = "4.5.19", features = ["derive", "env", "cargo"] }
-minijinja = { version = "=1.0.14", features = [
+clap = { version = "4.5.20", features = ["derive", "env", "cargo"] }
+minijinja = { version = "2.3.1", features = [
     "unstable_machinery",
     "custom_syntax",
 ] }
@@ -96,8 +96,8 @@ indexmap = "2.6.0"
 dunce = "1.0.5"
 fs-err = "2.11.0"
 which = "6.0.3"
-clap_complete = "4.5.32"
-clap_complete_nushell = "4.5.3"
+clap_complete = "4.5.33"
+clap_complete_nushell = "4.5.4"
 tokio-util = "0.7.12"
 
 tar = "0.4.42"
@@ -141,6 +141,7 @@ rattler_shell = { version = "0.22.4", default-features = false, features = ["sys
 rattler_solve = { version = "1.1.0", default-features = false, features = ["resolvo", "serde"] }
 rattler_virtual_packages = { version = "1.1.7", default-features = false }
 rattler_package_streaming = { version = "0.22.10", default-features = false }
+lazy_static = "1.5.0"
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 insta = { version = "1.40.0", features = ["yaml"] }
diff --git a/docs/reference/jinja.md b/docs/reference/jinja.md
index 7a0cfcef9..5e1faa316 100644
--- a/docs/reference/jinja.md
+++ b/docs/reference/jinja.md
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ will return `1`) - `last`: return the last element of a list (e.g. `"{{ [1, 2, 3
 - `sort`: sort a list (e.g. `"{{ [3, 1, 2] | sort }}"` will return `[1, 2, 3]`)
 - `trim`: remove leading and trailing whitespace from a string (e.g. `"{{ ' foo ' | trim }}"` will return `"foo"`)
 - `unique`: remove duplicates from a list (e.g. `"{{ [1, 2, 1, 3] | unique }}"` will return `[1, 2, 3]`)
-- `split`: split a string into a list (e.g. `"{{ '1.2.3' | split('.') }}"` will return `['1', '2', '3']`). By default, splits on whitespace.
+- `split`: split a string into a list (e.g. `"{{ '1.2.3' | split('.') | list }}"` will return `['1', '2', '3']`). By default, splits on whitespace.
 
 ??? "Removed filters"
 
diff --git a/src/recipe/jinja.rs b/src/recipe/jinja.rs
index e2e73d977..df84a6335 100644
--- a/src/recipe/jinja.rs
+++ b/src/recipe/jinja.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 //! Module for types and functions related to miniJinja setup for recipes.
 
 use fs_err as fs;
+use minijinja::syntax::SyntaxConfig;
 use std::process::Command;
 use std::sync::Arc;
 use std::{collections::BTreeMap, str::FromStr};
@@ -333,12 +334,6 @@ fn default_filters(env: &mut Environment) {
         format!("{}{}", major, minor)
     });
 
-    env.add_filter("split", |s: String, sep: Option<String>| -> Vec<String> {
-        s.split(sep.as_deref().unwrap_or(" "))
-            .map(|s| s.to_string())
-            .collect()
-    });
-
     env.add_filter("replace", minijinja::filters::replace);
     env.add_filter("lower", minijinja::filters::lower);
     env.add_filter("upper", minijinja::filters::upper);
@@ -359,6 +354,7 @@ fn default_filters(env: &mut Environment) {
     env.add_filter("sort", minijinja::filters::sort);
     env.add_filter("trim", minijinja::filters::trim);
     env.add_filter("unique", minijinja::filters::unique);
+    env.add_filter("split", minijinja::filters::split);
 }
 
 fn parse_platform(platform: &str) -> Result<Platform, minijinja::Error> {
@@ -370,6 +366,16 @@ fn parse_platform(platform: &str) -> Result<Platform, minijinja::Error> {
     })
 }
 
+lazy_static::lazy_static! {
+    /// The syntax config for MiniJinja / rattler-build
+    pub static ref SYNTAX_CONFIG: SyntaxConfig = SyntaxConfig::builder()
+        .block_delimiters("{%", "%}")
+        .variable_delimiters("${{", "}}")
+        .comment_delimiters("#{{", "}}")
+        .build()
+        .unwrap();
+}
+
 fn set_jinja(config: &SelectorConfig) -> minijinja::Environment<'static> {
     let SelectorConfig {
         target_platform,
@@ -386,15 +392,7 @@ fn set_jinja(config: &SelectorConfig) -> minijinja::Environment<'static> {
     default_filters(&mut env);
 
     // Ok to unwrap here because we know that the syntax is valid
-    env.set_syntax(minijinja::Syntax {
-        block_start: "{%".into(),
-        block_end: "%}".into(),
-        variable_start: "${{".into(),
-        variable_end: "}}".into(),
-        comment_start: "#{{".into(),
-        comment_end: "}}#".into(),
-    })
-    .expect("is tested to be correct");
+    env.set_syntax(SYNTAX_CONFIG.clone());
 
     let variant = Arc::new(variant.clone());
 
@@ -624,12 +622,8 @@ impl Git {
 }
 
 impl Object for Git {
-    fn kind(&self) -> minijinja::value::ObjectKind<'_> {
-        minijinja::value::ObjectKind::Plain
-    }
-
     fn call_method(
-        &self,
+        self: &Arc<Self>,
         _state: &minijinja::State,
         name: &str,
         args: &[Value],
@@ -684,12 +678,8 @@ impl Env {
 }
 
 impl Object for Env {
-    fn kind(&self) -> minijinja::value::ObjectKind<'_> {
-        minijinja::value::ObjectKind::Plain
-    }
-
     fn call_method(
-        &self,
+        self: &Arc<Self>,
         _state: &minijinja::State,
         name: &str,
         args: &[Value],
@@ -1114,12 +1104,28 @@ mod tests {
                 "split".to_string()
             };
 
-            jinja.eval(&format!("var | {func}")).unwrap().to_string()
+            jinja
+                .eval(&format!("var | {func} | list"))
+                .unwrap()
+                .to_string()
         };
 
         assert_eq!(split_test("foo bar", None), "[\"foo\", \"bar\"]");
         assert_eq!(split_test("foobar", None), "[\"foobar\"]");
         assert_eq!(split_test("1.2.3", Some(".")), "[\"1\", \"2\", \"3\"]");
+
+        jinja.context_mut().insert(
+            "var".to_string(),
+            Value::from_safe_string("1.2.3".to_string()),
+        );
+
+        assert_eq!(
+            jinja
+                .eval(&format!("(var | split('.'))[2]"))
+                .unwrap()
+                .to_string(),
+            "3"
+        );
     }
 
     #[test]
diff --git a/src/used_variables.rs b/src/used_variables.rs
index 61254bb21..a6257098c 100644
--- a/src/used_variables.rs
+++ b/src/used_variables.rs
@@ -14,11 +14,12 @@ use std::collections::{HashSet, VecDeque};
 use marked_yaml::Span;
 use minijinja::machinery::{
     ast::{self, Expr, Stmt},
-    parse,
+    parse_expr, WhitespaceConfig,
 };
 
 use crate::recipe::{
     custom_yaml::{self, HasSpan, Node, ScalarNode, SequenceNodeInternal},
+    jinja::SYNTAX_CONFIG,
     parser::CollectErrors,
     ParsingError,
 };
@@ -38,6 +39,18 @@ fn extract_variables(node: &Stmt, variables: &mut HashSet<String>) {
     }
 }
 
+fn parse<'source>(
+    expr: &'source str,
+    filename: &str,
+) -> Result<ast::Stmt<'source>, minijinja::Error> {
+    minijinja::machinery::parse(
+        expr,
+        filename,
+        SYNTAX_CONFIG.clone(),
+        WhitespaceConfig::default(),
+    )
+}
+
 /// Extract all variables from a jinja expression (called from [`extract_variables`])
 fn extract_variable_from_expression(expr: &Expr, variables: &mut HashSet<String>) {
     match expr {
@@ -130,12 +143,12 @@ fn find_jinja(
 ) -> Result<(), Vec<ParsingError>> {
     let mut errs = Vec::<ParsingError>::new();
     let mut queue = VecDeque::from([(node, src)]);
+
     while let Some((node, src)) = queue.pop_front() {
         match node {
             Node::Mapping(map) => {
                 for (_, value) in map.iter() {
                     queue.push_back((value, src));
-                    // find_jinja(value, src, variables)?;
                 }
             }
             Node::Sequence(seq) => {
@@ -143,16 +156,13 @@ fn find_jinja(
                     match item {
                         SequenceNodeInternal::Simple(node) => queue.push_back((node, src)),
                         SequenceNodeInternal::Conditional(if_sel) => {
-                            // we need to convert the if condition to a Jinja expression to parse it
-                            let as_jinja_expr = format!("${{{{ {} }}}}", if_sel.cond().as_str());
-                            match parse(&as_jinja_expr, "jinja.yaml") {
-                                Ok(ast) => {
-                                    extract_variables(&ast, variables);
+                            match parse_expr(if_sel.cond().as_str()) {
+                                Ok(expr) => {
+                                    extract_variable_from_expression(&expr, variables);
                                     queue.push_back((if_sel.then(), src));
-                                    // find_jinja(if_sel.then(), src, variables)?;
+
                                     if let Some(otherwise) = if_sel.otherwise() {
                                         queue.push_back((otherwise, src));
-                                        // find_jinja(otherwise, src, variables)?;
                                     }
                                 }
                                 Err(err) => {