diff --git a/capacitor-cordova-android-plugins/build.gradle b/capacitor-cordova-android-plugins/build.gradle
index 16cee0c2e1..9d81326d30 100644
--- a/capacitor-cordova-android-plugins/build.gradle
+++ b/capacitor-cordova-android-plugins/build.gradle
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+ext {
+    cordovaAndroidVersion =  project.hasProperty('cordovaAndroidVersion') ? rootProject.ext.cordovaAndroidVersion : '7.0.0'
+}
+
 buildscript {
     repositories {
         google()
diff --git a/cli/src/android/update.ts b/cli/src/android/update.ts
index 0a7d24b3d1..fa270377c8 100644
--- a/cli/src/android/update.ts
+++ b/cli/src/android/update.ts
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ export async function handleCordovaPluginsGradle(config: Config,  cordovaPlugins
   await writeFileAsync(pluginsGradlePath, buildGradle);
   const cordovaVariables = `// DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE! IT IS GENERATED EACH TIME "capacitor update" IS RUN
 ext {
-  cdvMinSdkVersion = rootProject.ext.minSdkVersion
+  cdvMinSdkVersion = project.hasProperty('minSdkVersion') ? rootProject.ext.minSdkVersion : ${config.android.minVersion}
   // Plugin gradle extensions can append to this to have code run at the end.
   cdvPluginPostBuildExtras = []
 }`;