diff --git a/tools/run_tests/artifacts/artifact_targets.py b/tools/run_tests/artifacts/artifact_targets.py
index f9ca7715479..fbf46b70374 100644
--- a/tools/run_tests/artifacts/artifact_targets.py
+++ b/tools/run_tests/artifacts/artifact_targets.py
@@ -286,7 +286,7 @@ class PHPArtifact:
     def build_jobspec(self):
         return create_docker_jobspec(
             self.name,
-            'tools/dockerfile/grpc_artifact_centos6_{}'.format(self.arch),
+            'tools/dockerfile/test/php73_zts_stretch_{}'.format(self.arch),
             'tools/run_tests/artifacts/build_artifact_php.sh')
 
 
diff --git a/tools/run_tests/artifacts/build_artifact_php.sh b/tools/run_tests/artifacts/build_artifact_php.sh
index 9372dc9b6b5..504971c9ecc 100755
--- a/tools/run_tests/artifacts/build_artifact_php.sh
+++ b/tools/run_tests/artifacts/build_artifact_php.sh
@@ -19,6 +19,11 @@ cd "$(dirname "$0")/../../.."
 
 mkdir -p "${ARTIFACTS_OUT}"
 
+# build the PHP extension archive (this just zips all the files up)
 pear package
+# test installing the PHP extension via pecl install
+find . -name "grpc-*.tgz" | cut -b3- | xargs pecl install
+# verified that the grpc extension is installed
+php -d extension=grpc.so --re grpc | head -1
 
 cp -r grpc-*.tgz "${ARTIFACTS_OUT}"/