diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/cpython/default.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/cpython/default.nix
index e2286c21029..c1e2cd86634 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/cpython/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/cpython/default.nix
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 , sha256
 , passthruFun
 , bash
+, stripIdlelib ? false
 }:
 
 assert x11Support -> tcl != null
@@ -222,6 +223,10 @@ in with passthru; stdenv.mkDerivation {
     find $out/lib/python*/config-* -type f -print -exec nuke-refs -e $out '{}' +
     find $out/lib -name '_sysconfigdata*.py*' -print -exec nuke-refs -e $out '{}' +
 
+    '' + optionalString stripIdlelib ''
+    # Strip IDLE (and turtledemo, which uses it)
+    rm -R $out/bin/idle* $out/lib/python*/{idlelib,turtledemo}
+    '' + ''
     # Include a sitecustomize.py file
     cp ${../sitecustomize.py} $out/${sitePackages}/sitecustomize.py