diff --git a/ci/setup_spack.sh b/ci/setup_spack.sh
index 38e0d2a30abc1e886795d3e931abf531935a171a..764a1e0173c00e1eb0d7d4219a36716a6f5d9e71 100755
--- a/ci/setup_spack.sh
+++ b/ci/setup_spack.sh
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ cat <<EOF >> ${SPACK_SYSTEM_CONFIG_PATH}/config.yaml
     - ${SPACK_SYSTEM_CONFIG_PATH}/templates
 
   build_stage:
-    - $tempdir/$user/spack-stage
+    - \$tempdir/$user/spack-stage
 EOF
 
 echo "Setting up extra repos"