diff --git a/cmake/dependencies/pybind11.cmake b/cmake/dependencies/pybind11.cmake
index 3fe2c473..d7ad355c 100644
--- a/cmake/dependencies/pybind11.cmake
+++ b/cmake/dependencies/pybind11.cmake
@@ -12,6 +12,11 @@ function(find_pybind11)
         message(STATUS "pybind11 repository: ${pyAMReX_pybind11_repo} (${pyAMReX_pybind11_branch})")
         include(FetchContent)
     endif()
+
+    # rely on our find_package(Python ...) call
+    # https://pybind11.readthedocs.io/en/stable/compiling.html#modules-with-cmake
+    set(PYBIND11_FINDPYTHON ON)
+
     if(TARGET pybind11::module)
         # nothing to do, target already exists in the superbuild
     elseif(pyAMReX_pybind11_internal OR pyAMReX_pybind11_src)
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 6e61cdd3..3fb8cda6 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -81,7 +81,6 @@ def build_extension(self, ext):
             "-DCMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY=" + os.path.join(extdir, "amrex"),
             "-DCMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE=ON",
             "-DCMAKE_PYTHON_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY=" + extdir,
-            "-DPython_EXECUTABLE=" + sys.executable,
             "-DAMReX_SPACEDIM=" + dims,
             ## variants
             "-DAMReX_OMP=" + AMReX_OMP,