diff --git a/roles/container-engine/cri-dockerd/defaults/main.yml b/roles/container-engine/cri-dockerd/defaults/main.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..53e337bab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/container-engine/cri-dockerd/defaults/main.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+---
+# Default is "info" (like if not provided). Possible values are any log level string parseable by logrus
+cri_dockerd_log_level: "info"
diff --git a/roles/container-engine/cri-dockerd/templates/cri-dockerd.service.j2 b/roles/container-engine/cri-dockerd/templates/cri-dockerd.service.j2
index ec128150f..df88c7dab 100644
--- a/roles/container-engine/cri-dockerd/templates/cri-dockerd.service.j2
+++ b/roles/container-engine/cri-dockerd/templates/cri-dockerd.service.j2
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ Requires=cri-dockerd.socket
 
 [Service]
 Type=notify
-ExecStart={{ bin_dir }}/cri-dockerd --container-runtime-endpoint {{ cri_socket }} --cni-conf-dir=/etc/cni/net.d --cni-bin-dir=/opt/cni/bin --network-plugin=cni --pod-cidr={{ kube_pods_subnet }} --pod-infra-container-image={{ pod_infra_image_repo }}:{{ pod_infra_version }} {% if enable_dual_stack_networks %}--ipv6-dual-stack=True{% endif %}
+ExecStart={{ bin_dir }}/cri-dockerd --container-runtime-endpoint {{ cri_socket }} --cni-conf-dir=/etc/cni/net.d --cni-bin-dir=/opt/cni/bin --network-plugin=cni --pod-cidr={{ kube_pods_subnet }} --pod-infra-container-image={{ pod_infra_image_repo }}:{{ pod_infra_version }} --log-level {{ cri_dockerd_log_level }} {% if enable_dual_stack_networks %}--ipv6-dual-stack=True{% endif %}
 
 ExecReload=/bin/kill -s HUP $MAINPID
 TimeoutSec=0