diff --git a/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/karma/application_builder.ts b/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/karma/application_builder.ts
index dce39e699eaf..8441bbc8dbad 100644
--- a/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/karma/application_builder.ts
+++ b/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/karma/application_builder.ts
@@ -338,7 +338,7 @@ async function initializeApplication(
     entryPoints,
     tsConfig: options.tsConfig,
     outputPath,
-    aot: false,
+    aot: options.aot,
     index: false,
     outputHashing: OutputHashing.None,
     optimization: false,
diff --git a/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/karma/schema.json b/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/karma/schema.json
index 24e74ab14212..c8ed717a90c8 100644
--- a/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/karma/schema.json
+++ b/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/karma/schema.json
@@ -276,6 +276,11 @@
     "webWorkerTsConfig": {
       "type": "string",
       "description": "TypeScript configuration for Web Worker modules."
+    },
+    "aot": {
+      "type": "boolean",
+      "description": "Run tests using Ahead of Time compilation.",
+      "default": false
     }
   },
   "additionalProperties": false,
diff --git a/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/karma/tests/options/aot_spec.ts b/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/karma/tests/options/aot_spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..4019f98f42dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/karma/tests/options/aot_spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+/**
+ * @license
+ * Copyright Google LLC All Rights Reserved.
+ *
+ * Use of this source code is governed by an MIT-style license that can be
+ * found in the LICENSE file at https://angular.dev/license
+ */
+
+import { execute } from '../../index';
+import { BASE_OPTIONS, KARMA_BUILDER_INFO, describeKarmaBuilder } from '../setup';
+import { BuilderMode } from '../../schema';
+
+describeKarmaBuilder(execute, KARMA_BUILDER_INFO, (harness, setupTarget) => {
+  describe('Option: "aot"', () => {
+    it('enables aot', async () => {
+      await setupTarget(harness);
+
+      await harness.writeFiles({
+        'src/aot.spec.ts': `
+          import { Component } from '@angular/core';
+          
+          describe('Hello', () => {
+            it('should *not* contain jit instructions', () => {
+              @Component({
+                template: 'Hello',
+              })
+              class Hello {}
+
+              expect((Hello as any).ɵcmp.template.toString()).not.toContain('jit');
+            });
+          });
+`,
+      });
+
+      harness.useTarget('test', {
+        ...BASE_OPTIONS,
+        aot: true,
+        /** Cf. {@link ../builder-mode_spec.ts} */
+        polyfills: ['zone.js', '@angular/localize/init', 'zone.js/testing'],
+        builderMode: BuilderMode.Application,
+      });
+
+      const { result } = await harness.executeOnce();
+      expect(result?.success).toBeTrue();
+    });
+  });
+});