diff --git a/diskimage_builder/elements/debian-minimal/test-elements/stable-vm/README.rst b/diskimage_builder/elements/debian-minimal/test-elements/stable-vm/README.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..44003513
--- /dev/null
+++ b/diskimage_builder/elements/debian-minimal/test-elements/stable-vm/README.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Verify we can build a debian-minimal stable VM image.
diff --git a/diskimage_builder/elements/debian-minimal/test-elements/stable-vm/element-deps b/diskimage_builder/elements/debian-minimal/test-elements/stable-vm/element-deps
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..73b3d4e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/diskimage_builder/elements/debian-minimal/test-elements/stable-vm/element-deps
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+vm
diff --git a/diskimage_builder/elements/debian-minimal/test-elements/stable-vm/environment.d/10-set-distro.bash b/diskimage_builder/elements/debian-minimal/test-elements/stable-vm/environment.d/10-set-distro.bash
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..16e4cd98
--- /dev/null
+++ b/diskimage_builder/elements/debian-minimal/test-elements/stable-vm/environment.d/10-set-distro.bash
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+export DISTRO_NAME=debian
+export DIB_RELEASE=stable