diff --git a/tools/osx/xcode_configure.bzl b/tools/osx/xcode_configure.bzl
index b897ddba2c2c5b..342949c77dd6cd 100644
--- a/tools/osx/xcode_configure.bzl
+++ b/tools/osx/xcode_configure.bzl
@@ -45,6 +45,20 @@ def _search_sdk_output(output, sdkname):
     """Returns the SDK version given xcodebuild stdout and an sdkname."""
     return _search_string(output, "(%s" % sdkname, ")")
 
+def _xcodebuild_path(repository_ctx):
+    """Returns the xcodebuild path"""
+    developer_dir = repository_ctx.getenv("DEVELOPER_DIR")
+    if developer_dir:
+        xcodebuild_path = repository_ctx.path("{}/usr/bin/xcodebuild".format(developer_dir))
+        if xcodebuild_path.exists:
+            return str(xcodebuild_path)
+
+    xcodebuild_path = repository_ctx.which("xcodebuild")
+    if xcodebuild_path.exists:
+        return str(xcodebuild_path)
+
+    fail("xcodebuild can't be found neither in DEVELOPER_DIR nor by name")
+
 def _xcode_version_output(repository_ctx, name, version, aliases, developer_dir, timeout):
     """Returns a string containing an xcode_version build target."""
     build_contents = ""
@@ -54,7 +68,7 @@ def _xcode_version_output(repository_ctx, name, version, aliases, developer_dir,
         decorated_aliases.append("'%s'" % alias)
     repository_ctx.report_progress("Fetching SDK information for Xcode %s" % version)
     xcodebuild_result = repository_ctx.execute(
-        ["xcrun", "xcodebuild", "-version", "-sdk"],
+        ["xcrun", _xcodebuild_path(repository_ctx), "-version", "-sdk"],
         timeout,
         {"DEVELOPER_DIR": developer_dir},
     )
@@ -197,6 +211,10 @@ def _darwin_build_file(repository_ctx):
     repository_ctx.report_progress("Fetching the default Xcode version")
     env = repository_ctx.os.environ
 
+    xcrun_path = repository_ctx.which("xcrun")
+    if not xcrun_path.exists:
+        fail("Can't find installed xcrun")
+
     if "BAZEL_OSX_EXECUTE_TIMEOUT" in env:
         timeout = int(env["BAZEL_OSX_EXECUTE_TIMEOUT"])
     else:
@@ -207,7 +225,7 @@ def _darwin_build_file(repository_ctx):
         "-i",
         "DEVELOPER_DIR={}".format(env.get("DEVELOPER_DIR", default = "")),
         "xcrun",
-        "xcodebuild",
+        _xcodebuild_path(repository_ctx),
         "-version",
     ], timeout)
 
diff --git a/tools/osx/xcode_locator.m b/tools/osx/xcode_locator.m
index 9c357fb30c357c..5224f36281ae7e 100644
--- a/tools/osx/xcode_locator.m
+++ b/tools/osx/xcode_locator.m
@@ -130,8 +130,18 @@ static void AddEntryToDictionary(
   NSMutableDictionary<NSString *, XcodeVersionEntry *> *dict =
       [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
   CFErrorRef cfError;
-  NSArray *array = CFBridgingRelease(LSCopyApplicationURLsForBundleIdentifier(
-      cfBundleID, &cfError));
+
+  // If the user sets the environment variable DEVELOPER_DIR, then that Xcode will be returned.
+  // Otherwise, the function returns a list of all discovered Xcodes on the host.
+  NSDictionary<NSString *, NSString *> *environmentVariables = [[NSProcessInfo processInfo] environment];
+  NSString *developer_dir_env = environmentVariables[@"DEVELOPER_DIR"];
+
+  NSArray *array = CFBridgingRelease(LSCopyApplicationURLsForBundleIdentifier(cfBundleID, &cfError));
+  if (developer_dir_env) {
+    NSURL *fileURL = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:developer_dir_env];
+    NSURL *xcodeURL = [[fileURL URLByDeletingLastPathComponent] URLByDeletingLastPathComponent];
+    array = @[xcodeURL];
+  }
   if (array == nil) {
     NSError *nsError = (__bridge NSError *)cfError;
     fprintf(stderr, "error: %s\n", nsError.description.UTF8String);