diff --git a/RELEASE_NOTES.md b/RELEASE_NOTES.md
index 8e7afa2b8..b104e9add 100644
--- a/RELEASE_NOTES.md
+++ b/RELEASE_NOTES.md
@@ -1,3 +1,14 @@
+# UNRELEASED
+
+## Multiple plugin directories
+
+You can now specify more than one directory to load additional Ohai plugins from by using the `--directory` / `-d` flag more than once.
+
+Example:
+```bash
+ohai -d /path/to/more/plugins -d /another/path/to/more/plugins
+```
+
 # Ohai Release Notes 14.3
 
 ## Detection of Amazon Linux 2.0
diff --git a/lib/ohai/application.rb b/lib/ohai/application.rb
index 0e991aa85..dc16d111c 100644
--- a/lib/ohai/application.rb
+++ b/lib/ohai/application.rb
@@ -34,8 +34,11 @@ class Ohai::Application
   option :directory,
     short: "-d DIRECTORY",
     long: "--directory DIRECTORY",
-    description: "A directory to add to the Ohai plugin search path",
-    proc: lambda { |path| Ohai::Config.platform_specific_path(path) }
+    description: "A directory to add to the Ohai plugin search path. If passing multiple directories use this option more than once.",
+    proc: lambda { |path, path_array|
+      (path_array ||= []) << Ohai::Config.platform_specific_path(path)
+      path_array
+    }
 
   option :log_level,
     short: "-l LEVEL",
diff --git a/lib/ohai/system.rb b/lib/ohai/system.rb
index b3a2dfc31..7d5d973ed 100644
--- a/lib/ohai/system.rb
+++ b/lib/ohai/system.rb
@@ -176,9 +176,13 @@ def attributes_print(a)
     def configure_ohai
       Ohai.config.merge!(@config)
 
-      if Ohai.config[:directory] &&
-          !Ohai.config[:plugin_path].include?(Ohai.config[:directory])
-        Ohai.config[:plugin_path] << Ohai.config[:directory]
+      # add any additional CLI passed directories to the plugin path excluding duplicates
+      unless Ohai.config[:directory].nil?
+        # make sure the directory config is an array since it could be a string set in client.rb
+        Array(Ohai.config[:directory]).each do |dir|
+          next if Ohai.config[:plugin_path].include?(dir)
+          Ohai.config[:plugin_path] << dir
+        end
       end
 
       logger.debug("Running Ohai with the following configuration: #{Ohai.config.configuration}")
diff --git a/ohai.gemspec b/ohai.gemspec
index 2f2b84dd3..fb2c1cd59 100644
--- a/ohai.gemspec
+++ b/ohai.gemspec
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |s|
 
   s.add_dependency "systemu", "~> 2.6.4"
   s.add_dependency "ffi-yajl", "~> 2.2"
-  s.add_dependency "mixlib-cli"
+  s.add_dependency "mixlib-cli", ">= 1.7.0" # 1.7+ needed to support passing multiple options
   s.add_dependency "mixlib-config", "~> 2.0"
   s.add_dependency "mixlib-log", "~> 2.0", ">= 2.0.1"
   s.add_dependency "mixlib-shellout", "~> 2.0"
diff --git a/spec/unit/system_spec.rb b/spec/unit/system_spec.rb
index 7d817e709..a5b582328 100644
--- a/spec/unit/system_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/unit/system_spec.rb
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@
     it "merges provided configuration options into the ohai config context" do
       config = {
         disabled_plugins: [ :Foo, :Baz ],
-        directory: "/some/extra/plugins",
+        directory: ["/some/extra/plugins"],
         critical_plugins: [ :Foo, :Bar ],
       }
       Ohai::System.new(config)
@@ -47,13 +47,24 @@
       end
     end
 
-    context "when directory is configured" do
+    context "when a single directory is configured as a string" do
       let(:directory) { "/some/fantastic/plugins" }
 
       it "adds directory to plugin_path" do
         Ohai.config[:directory] = directory
         Ohai::System.new({ invoked_from_cli: true })
-        expect(Ohai.config[:plugin_path]).to include(directory)
+        expect(Ohai.config[:plugin_path]).to include("/some/fantastic/plugins")
+      end
+    end
+
+    context "when multiple directories are configured" do
+      let(:directory) { ["/some/fantastic/plugins", "/some/other/plugins"] }
+
+      it "adds directories to plugin_path" do
+        Ohai.config[:directory] = directory
+        Ohai::System.new({ invoked_from_cli: true })
+        expect(Ohai.config[:plugin_path]).to include("/some/fantastic/plugins")
+        expect(Ohai.config[:plugin_path]).to include("/some/other/plugins")
       end
     end