diff --git a/test/cpp/codegen/BUILD b/test/cpp/codegen/BUILD
index 8de46be8162..6cc81e33983 100644
--- a/test/cpp/codegen/BUILD
+++ b/test/cpp/codegen/BUILD
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ grpc_cc_test(
     ],
     external_deps = [
         "gtest",
+        "protobuf",
     ],
 )