diff --git a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Microsoft.Android.Sdk/targets/Microsoft.Android.Sdk.CoreCLR.targets b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Microsoft.Android.Sdk/targets/Microsoft.Android.Sdk.CoreCLR.targets
index 705237961ab..a74ffe62b34 100644
--- a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Microsoft.Android.Sdk/targets/Microsoft.Android.Sdk.CoreCLR.targets
+++ b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Microsoft.Android.Sdk/targets/Microsoft.Android.Sdk.CoreCLR.targets
@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@ This file contains the CoreCLR-specific MSBuild logic for .NET for Android.
   </PropertyGroup>
   <!-- Properties for $(OutputType)=Exe (Android Applications) -->
   <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(AndroidApplication)' == 'true' ">
-    <!-- Default to R2R Composite for CoreCLR Release mode -->
-    <PublishReadyToRun Condition=" '$(PublishReadyToRun)' == '' and '$(Configuration)' == 'Release' ">true</PublishReadyToRun>
+    <!-- Default to R2R Composite for CoreCLR Release mode or when publishing -->
+    <PublishReadyToRun Condition=" '$(PublishReadyToRun)' == '' and ('$(Configuration)' == 'Release' or '$(_IsPublishing)' == 'true') ">true</PublishReadyToRun>
     <PublishReadyToRunComposite Condition=" '$(PublishReadyToRunComposite)' == '' and '$(PublishReadyToRun)' == 'true' ">true</PublishReadyToRunComposite>
     <_IsPublishing Condition=" '$(_IsPublishing)' == '' and '$(PublishReadyToRun)' == 'true' ">true</_IsPublishing>
     <AllowReadyToRunWithoutRuntimeIdentifier Condition=" '$(PublishReadyToRun)' == 'true' and '$(RuntimeIdentifiers)' != '' ">true</AllowReadyToRunWithoutRuntimeIdentifier>
diff --git a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tests/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tests/XASdkTests.cs b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tests/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tests/XASdkTests.cs
index e3c049a1295..3a863bd0fb2 100644
--- a/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tests/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tests/XASdkTests.cs
+++ b/src/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tasks/Tests/Xamarin.Android.Build.Tests/XASdkTests.cs
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 using System.Linq;
 using System.Xml.Linq;
 using System.Reflection;
+using System.Reflection.PortableExecutable;
 using System.Text;
 using NUnit.Framework;
 using Xamarin.Android.Tools;
@@ -279,6 +280,37 @@ public void DotNetPublishDefaultValues ([Values] bool isRelease, [Values] Androi
 			Assert.IsTrue (dotnet.Publish (), "`dotnet publish` should succeed");
 		}
 
+		[Test]
+		public void DotNetPublishReadyToRunCustomConfiguration ()
+		{
+			const string runtimeIdentifier = "android-arm64";
+			var proj = new XamarinAndroidApplicationProject ();
+			proj.SetRuntime (AndroidRuntime.CoreCLR);
+			proj.SetProperty (KnownProperties.RuntimeIdentifier, runtimeIdentifier);
+			proj.SetProperty ("AndroidEnableAssemblyCompression", "false");
+
+			var builder = CreateDllBuilder ();
+			builder.Save (proj);
+			var dotnet = new DotNetCLI (Path.Combine (Root, builder.ProjectDirectory, proj.ProjectFilePath));
+			Assert.IsTrue (dotnet.Publish (parameters: new [] { "Configuration=CustomRelease" }), "`dotnet publish -c CustomRelease` should succeed");
+
+			var assemblyName = proj.ProjectName;
+			// Configuration=CustomRelease produces output under bin/CustomRelease/
+			var publishDirectory = Path.Combine (Root, builder.ProjectDirectory, "bin", "CustomRelease", runtimeIdentifier, "publish");
+			var apkSigned = Path.Combine (publishDirectory, $"{proj.PackageName}-Signed.apk");
+			FileAssert.Exists (apkSigned);
+
+			var helper = new ArchiveAssemblyHelper (apkSigned, true);
+			var abi = MonoAndroidHelper.RidToAbi (runtimeIdentifier);
+			Assert.IsTrue (helper.Exists ($"assemblies/{abi}/{assemblyName}.dll"), $"{assemblyName}.dll should exist in apk!");
+
+			using var stream = helper.ReadEntry ($"assemblies/{assemblyName}.dll");
+			stream.Position = 0;
+			using var peReader = new PEReader (stream);
+			Assert.IsTrue (peReader.PEHeaders.CorHeader.ManagedNativeHeaderDirectory.Size > 0,
+				$"ReadyToRun image not found in {assemblyName}.dll! ManagedNativeHeaderDirectory should not be empty!");
+		}
+
 		[Test]
 		public void DotNetPublish ([Values] bool isRelease, [ValueSource (nameof(Get_DotNetTargetFrameworks_Data))] object[] data)
 		{