diff --git a/mesonbuild/backend/ninjabackend.py b/mesonbuild/backend/ninjabackend.py
index 8663dfe33..71b37cf41 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/backend/ninjabackend.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/backend/ninjabackend.py
@@ -270,6 +270,7 @@ int dummy;
         unity_src = []
         unity_deps = [] # Generated sources that must be built before compiling a Unity target.
         header_deps += self.get_generated_headers(target)
+        src_list = []
 
         # Get a list of all generated *sources* (sources files, headers,
         # objects, etc). Needed to determine the linker.
@@ -318,11 +319,11 @@ int dummy;
         # this target. We create the Ninja build file elements for this here
         # because we need `header_deps` to be fully generated in the above loop.
         for src in generated_source_files:
+            src_list.append(src)
             obj_list.append(self.generate_single_compile(target, outfile, src, True,
                                                          header_deps=header_deps))
         # Generate compilation targets for sources belonging to this target that
         # are generated by other rules (this is only used for Vala right now)
-        src_list = []
         for src in gen_src_deps:
             src_list.append(src)
             if is_unity: