diff --git a/docs/markdown/Reference-manual.md b/docs/markdown/Reference-manual.md
index 802002b6f..cb8347a2e 100644
--- a/docs/markdown/Reference-manual.md
+++ b/docs/markdown/Reference-manual.md
@@ -1313,7 +1313,11 @@ The content is a series of key/value pairs grouped into sections. If the section
 keyword argument is omitted, those key/value pairs are implicitly grouped into a section
 with no title. key/value pairs can optionally be grouped into a dictionary,
 but keep in mind that dictionaries does not guarantee ordering. `key` must be string,
-`value` can only be integer, boolean, string, or a list of those.
+`value` can be:
+
+- an integer, boolean or string
+- *since 0.57.0* an external program or a dependency
+- a list of those.
 
 `summary()` can be called multiple times as long as the same section/key
 pair doesn't appear twice. All sections will be collected and printed at
diff --git a/docs/markdown/snippets/summary_prog_dep.md b/docs/markdown/snippets/summary_prog_dep.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6f0262f2d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/markdown/snippets/summary_prog_dep.md
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+## `summary()` accepts external programs or dependencies
+
+External program objects and dependency objects can be passed to
+`summary()` as the value to be printed.
diff --git a/mesonbuild/dependencies/base.py b/mesonbuild/dependencies/base.py
index e72f34693..cd77b4b54 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/dependencies/base.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/dependencies/base.py
@@ -134,6 +134,13 @@ class Dependency:
     def is_built(self) -> bool:
         return False
 
+    def summary_value(self) -> T.Union[str, mlog.AnsiDecorator, mlog.AnsiText]:
+        if not self.found():
+            return mlog.red('NO')
+        if not self.version:
+            return mlog.green('YES')
+        return mlog.AnsiText(mlog.green('YES'), ' ', mlog.cyan(self.version))
+
     def get_compile_args(self) -> T.List[str]:
         if self.include_type == 'system':
             converted = []
@@ -263,6 +270,11 @@ class InternalDependency(Dependency):
                 setattr(result, k, copy.deepcopy(v, memo))
         return result
 
+    def summary_value(self) -> mlog.AnsiDecorator:
+        # Omit the version.  Most of the time it will be just the project
+        # version, which is uninteresting in the summary.
+        return mlog.green('YES')
+
     def is_built(self) -> bool:
         if self.sources or self.libraries or self.whole_libraries:
             return True
@@ -1888,6 +1900,11 @@ class ExternalProgram:
             else:
                 mlog.log('Program', mlog.bold(name), 'found:', mlog.red('NO'))
 
+    def summary_value(self) -> T.Union[str, mlog.AnsiDecorator]:
+        if not self.found():
+            return mlog.red('NO')
+        return self.path
+
     def __repr__(self) -> str:
         r = '<{} {!r} -> {!r}>'
         return r.format(self.__class__.__name__, self.name, self.command)
diff --git a/mesonbuild/interpreter.py b/mesonbuild/interpreter.py
index 817204fd2..a3fa0504d 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/interpreter.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/interpreter.py
@@ -1854,7 +1854,7 @@ class Summary:
         self.sections = collections.defaultdict(dict)
         self.max_key_len = 0
 
-    def add_section(self, section, values, kwargs):
+    def add_section(self, section, values, kwargs, subproject):
         bool_yn = kwargs.get('bool_yn', False)
         if not isinstance(bool_yn, bool):
             raise InterpreterException('bool_yn keyword argument must be boolean')
@@ -1866,13 +1866,17 @@ class Summary:
                 raise InterpreterException('Summary section {!r} already have key {!r}'.format(section, k))
             formatted_values = []
             for i in listify(v):
-                if not isinstance(i, (str, int)):
-                    m = 'Summary value in section {!r}, key {!r}, must be string, integer or boolean'
-                    raise InterpreterException(m.format(section, k))
-                if bool_yn and isinstance(i, bool):
+                i = unholder(i)
+                if isinstance(i, bool) and bool_yn:
                     formatted_values.append(mlog.green('YES') if i else mlog.red('NO'))
-                else:
+                elif isinstance(i, (str, int, bool)):
                     formatted_values.append(str(i))
+                elif isinstance(i, (ExternalProgram, Dependency)):
+                    FeatureNew.single_use('dependency or external program in summary', '0.57.0', subproject)
+                    formatted_values.append(i.summary_value())
+                else:
+                    m = 'Summary value in section {!r}, key {!r}, must be string, integer, boolean, dependency or external program'
+                    raise InterpreterException(m.format(section, k))
             self.sections[section][k] = (formatted_values, list_sep)
             self.max_key_len = max(self.max_key_len, len(k))
 
@@ -3284,7 +3288,7 @@ external dependencies (including libraries) must go to "dependencies".''')
     def summary_impl(self, section, values, kwargs):
         if self.subproject not in self.summary:
             self.summary[self.subproject] = Summary(self.active_projectname, self.project_version)
-        self.summary[self.subproject].add_section(section, values, kwargs)
+        self.summary[self.subproject].add_section(section, values, kwargs, self.subproject)
 
     def _print_summary(self):
         # Add automatic 'Supbrojects' section in main project.
diff --git a/mesonbuild/mlog.py b/mesonbuild/mlog.py
index a6aa2b563..20794df21 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/mlog.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/mlog.py
@@ -136,6 +136,18 @@ class AnsiDecorator:
     def __str__(self) -> str:
         return self.get_text(colorize_console())
 
+
+class AnsiText:
+    def __init__(self, *args: T.List[T.Union[str, AnsiDecorator]]):
+        self.args = args
+
+    def __len__(self) -> int:
+        return sum((len(x) for x in self.args))
+
+    def __str__(self) -> str:
+        return ''.join((str(x) for x in self.args))
+
+
 def bold(text: str, quoted: bool = False) -> AnsiDecorator:
     return AnsiDecorator(text, "\033[1m", quoted=quoted)
 
diff --git a/run_unittests.py b/run_unittests.py
index da6d3290b..b244a07ea 100755
--- a/run_unittests.py
+++ b/run_unittests.py
@@ -4707,6 +4707,12 @@ class AllPlatformTests(BasePlatformTests):
                 no             : NO
                 coma list      : a, b, c
 
+              Stuff
+                missing prog   : NO
+                existing prog  : ''' + sys.executable + '''
+                missing dep    : NO
+                internal dep   : YES
+
               Plugins
                 long coma list : alpha, alphacolor, apetag, audiofx, audioparsers, auparse,
                                  autodetect, avi
diff --git a/test cases/unit/73 summary/meson.build b/test cases/unit/73 summary/meson.build
index 1bc05ca71..50383b4d7 100644
--- a/test cases/unit/73 summary/meson.build	
+++ b/test cases/unit/73 summary/meson.build	
@@ -9,6 +9,11 @@ summary({'Some boolean': false,
          'A list': ['string', 1, true],
          'empty list': [],
         }, section: 'Configuration')
+summary({'missing prog': find_program('xyzzy', required: false),
+         'existing prog': import('python').find_installation(),
+         'missing dep': dependency('', required: false),
+         'internal dep': declare_dependency(),
+        }, section: 'Stuff')
 summary('A number', 1, section: 'Configuration')
 summary('yes', true, bool_yn : true, section: 'Configuration')
 summary('no', false, bool_yn : true, section: 'Configuration')