diff --git a/states/nginx/defaults.yaml b/states/nginx/defaults.yaml
index be32600..3b261cc 100644
--- a/states/nginx/defaults.yaml
+++ b/states/nginx/defaults.yaml
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ nginx:
     dir: /etc/nginx
     geoip: false
     webdav: false
+    syslog: false
     lua: false
     user: www-data
     group: www-data
diff --git a/states/nginx/templates/nginx.conf.j2 b/states/nginx/templates/nginx.conf.j2
index 2cf06a5..e357fbe 100644
--- a/states/nginx/templates/nginx.conf.j2
+++ b/states/nginx/templates/nginx.conf.j2
@@ -57,7 +57,9 @@ http {
                   '"$http_referer" "$http_user_agent"';
 
   access_log /var/log/nginx/$host.access.log main;
+  {%- if nginx.config.syslog %}
   access_log syslog:server=localhost:514 main;
+  {%- endif %}
 
   default_type application/octet-stream;
   tcp_nodelay on;