diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 9327ddc82..136d64362 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -249,8 +249,7 @@ needs_ffmpeg = false
 
 if get_option('bestsource').enabled()
     conf.set('WITH_BESTSOURCE', 1)
-    bs = subproject('bestsource', default_options: ['enable_plugin=false'])
-    deps += bs.get_variable('bestsource_dep')
+    deps = [dependency('bestsource', 'bestsource_dep', default_options: ['enable_plugin=false'], required: true)]
     dep_avail += 'BestSource'
     needs_ffmpeg = true
 endif