diff --git a/boards/common/frdm/Makefile.include b/boards/common/frdm/Makefile.include
index 2cf811ce4fda477c9cefe0d2e5cba6b8e5422048..b12569e9c42cf1189c970c93a15e49c76dcf263c 100644
--- a/boards/common/frdm/Makefile.include
+++ b/boards/common/frdm/Makefile.include
@@ -23,8 +23,7 @@ export OPENOCD_PRE_VERIFY_CMDS += \
   -c 'resume 0x20000000'
 export OPENOCD_EXTRA_INIT
 
-.PHONY: flash
-flash: $(RIOTCPU)/$(CPU)/dist/wdog-disable.bin
+FLASHDEPS += $(RIOTCPU)/$(CPU)/dist/wdog-disable.bin
 
 export OPENOCD_CONFIG ?= $(RIOTBOARD)/common/frdm/dist/old-openocd-$(CPU_FAMILY).cfg
 endif
diff --git a/boards/mulle/Makefile.include b/boards/mulle/Makefile.include
index 6d8b0ea77b94cee0d23dc1f6923651286fb51fa0..d0c6e24957452458c6a85aa5368fd9a0193b0c6e 100644
--- a/boards/mulle/Makefile.include
+++ b/boards/mulle/Makefile.include
@@ -58,8 +58,7 @@ export OPENOCD_PRE_VERIFY_CMDS += \
   -c 'resume 0x20000000'
 export PRE_FLASH_CHECK_SCRIPT = $(RIOTCPU)/$(CPU)/dist/check-fcfield-elf.sh
 
-.PHONY: flash
-flash: $(RIOTCPU)/$(CPU)/dist/wdog-disable.bin
+FLASHDEPS += $(RIOTCPU)/$(CPU)/dist/wdog-disable.bin
 
 # this board uses openocd
 include $(RIOTMAKE)/tools/openocd.inc.mk
diff --git a/boards/pba-d-01-kw2x/Makefile.include b/boards/pba-d-01-kw2x/Makefile.include
index e5cae31cf55b12750d5b0b9f44ce8e073eefc4f9..6d9fd09d3a762f5d423e18d4658fdf475a7bdeb9 100644
--- a/boards/pba-d-01-kw2x/Makefile.include
+++ b/boards/pba-d-01-kw2x/Makefile.include
@@ -10,8 +10,7 @@ export CPU_MODEL ?= mkw21d256vha5
 PORT_LINUX ?= /dev/ttyACM0
 PORT_DARWIN ?= $(firstword $(sort $(wildcard /dev/tty.usbmodem*)))
 
-.PHONY: flash
-flash: $(RIOTCPU)/$(CPU)/dist/wdog-disable.bin
+FLASHDEPS += $(RIOTCPU)/$(CPU)/dist/wdog-disable.bin
 
 # We need special handling of the watchdog if we want to speed up the flash
 # verification by using the MCU to compute the image checksum after flashing.