diff --git a/images/Makefile b/images/Makefile
index 00e51c2bf..86bfdcb86 100644
--- a/images/Makefile
+++ b/images/Makefile
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 SHELL:=/bin/bash
 # Set the command for running `docker`
-# -- allows user to override for things like sudo usage or container images 
+# -- allows user to override for things like sudo usage or container images
 DOCKER := docker
 # Set the first containerd.sock that successfully stats -- fallback to the docker4mac default
 CONTAINERD_SOCK := $(shell \
@@ -32,14 +32,15 @@ DOCKER_USER?=weaveworks
 VERSION?=$(shell git describe HEAD --tags)
 RELEASE?=latest
 FULL_IMAGE_NAME=${DOCKER_USER}/ignite-${WHAT}:${TAG}
-RELEASE_IMAGE_NAME=${DOCKER_USER}/ignite-${WHAT}:${RELEASE}
+escaped_RELEASE:=$(subst +,-,$(RELEASE))
+RELEASE_IMAGE_NAME=${DOCKER_USER}/ignite-${WHAT}:${escaped_RELEASE}
 LATEST_IMAGE_NAME=${DOCKER_USER}/ignite-${WHAT}:latest
 
 GOARCH?=amd64
 GOARCH_LIST=amd64 arm64
 # Set this flag to build a multiarch image
 IS_MANIFEST_LIST?=0
-TAG:=${RELEASE}$(if $(strip $(VERSION)),-${VERSION})
+TAG:=${escaped_RELEASE}$(if $(strip $(VERSION)),-${VERSION})
 OP:=build
 
 TMPDIR?=/tmp
@@ -141,7 +142,7 @@ push-all: build-all
 	$(MAKE) OP=push build-all
 
 
-build-all: build-alpine build-amazon-kernel build-amazonlinux build-centos build-kubeadm build-opensuse build-ubuntu
+build-all: build-alpine build-amazon-kernel build-amazonlinux build-centos build-k3s build-kubeadm build-opensuse build-ubuntu
 
 build-alpine:
 ifeq ($(OP),build)
@@ -161,6 +162,9 @@ build-centos:
 	$(MAKE) ${OP} WHAT=centos         RELEASE=7
 	$(MAKE) ${OP} WHAT=centos         RELEASE=8                                        IS_LATEST=true
 
+build-k3s:
+	$(MAKE) ${OP} WHAT=k3s            RELEASE=v1.19.4+k3s1                             IS_LATEST=true
+
 build-kubeadm:
 	$(MAKE) ${OP} WHAT=kubeadm        RELEASE=v1.18.3  BINARY_REF=release/stable-1.18  IS_LATEST=true  IS_MANIFEST_LIST=1  GOARCH=arm64
 	$(MAKE) ${OP} WHAT=kubeadm        RELEASE=v1.18.3  BINARY_REF=release/stable-1.18  IS_LATEST=true  IS_MANIFEST_LIST=1  GOARCH=amd64
diff --git a/images/k3s/Dockerfile b/images/k3s/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..938191ed9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/images/k3s/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+FROM ubuntu:20.04
+
+# udev is needed for booting a "real" VM, setting up the ttyS0 console properly
+# kmod is needed for modprobing modules
+# systemd is needed for running as PID 1 as /sbin/init
+# Also, other utilities are installed
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
+      curl \
+      dbus \
+      jq \
+      kmod \
+      iproute2 \
+      iputils-ping \
+      net-tools \
+      openssh-server \
+      sudo \
+      systemd \
+      udev \
+      wget && \
+    apt-get clean && \
+    rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+# Create the following files, but unset them
+RUN echo "" > /etc/machine-id && echo "" > /var/lib/dbus/machine-id
+
+# Install k3s. The intermediate container used to run this command does not run systemd, so
+# the installer can't automatically enable the k3s service. Instead, we do so manually.
+ARG RELEASE
+RUN curl -sfL https://get.k3s.io | INSTALL_K3S_SKIP_ENABLE=true INSTALL_K3S_VERSION="${RELEASE}" sh -
+RUN ln -s /etc/systemd/system/k3s.service /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/k3s.service
+
+# This container image doesn't have locales installed. Disable forwarding the
+# user locale env variables or we get warnings such as:
+#  bash: warning: setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale
+RUN sed -i -e 's/^AcceptEnv LANG LC_\*$/#AcceptEnv LANG LC_*/' /etc/ssh/sshd_config
+
+# Set the root password to root when logging in through the VM's ttyS0 console
+RUN echo "root:root" | chpasswd
diff --git a/images/k3s/README.md b/images/k3s/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a34873c17
--- /dev/null
+++ b/images/k3s/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+# Run k3s with Ignite VMs
+
+This short guide shows you how to setup Rancher's Lightweight Kubernetes (k3s) distribution with Ignite VMs.
+
+**NOTE:** At the moment, you need to execute all these commands as `root`.
+
+**NOTE:** k3s requires ~2 GiB of memory to function properly. The default 512 MiB of memory is not enough.
+
+The image contains a minimal Ubuntu 20.04 installation with the k3s server running as a daemon on boot.
+Thus, spawning a single k3s Ignite VM is sufficient to operate a single-node k3s cluster. To get started:
+
+```bash
+ignite run weaveworks/ignite-k3s:latest \
+    --cpus 2 \
+    --memory 2GB \
+    --ssh \
+    --name k3s-master
+```
+
+We can test the installation by checking the installed k3s version:
+
+```bash
+ignite exec k3s-master -- k3s --version
+
+> k3s version v1.19.4+k3s1 (2532c10f)
+```
+
+We can also try to administrate the cluster from the host machine, if `kubectl` is installed:
+
+```bash
+VM_IP=$(ignite inspect vm k3s-master | jq -r ".status.network.ipAddresses[0]")
+ignite exec k3s-master -- cat /etc/rancher/k3s/k3s.yaml > kubeconfig
+sed -i'' "s/127.0.0.1/$VM_IP/" kubeconfig
+kubectl --kubeconfig=kubeconfig get nodes
+
+# Should list a single Master node, running the same k3s version displayed earlier
+```