diff --git a/charts/templates/web-config.yaml b/charts/templates/web-config.yaml
index c17b5d99..8b2f9f70 100644
--- a/charts/templates/web-config.yaml
+++ b/charts/templates/web-config.yaml
@@ -7,3 +7,4 @@ metadata:
 data:
   DJANGO_CONFIGURATION: "Production"
   DJANGO_ROOT_DOMAIN: {{ .Values.ingress.host | quote }}
+  DJANGO_MAILER_PRIMARY_BACKEND: "django.core.mail.backends.console.EmailBackend"
diff --git a/fiesta/fiesta/settings/project.py b/fiesta/fiesta/settings/project.py
index 40af3261..8f1988bf 100644
--- a/fiesta/fiesta/settings/project.py
+++ b/fiesta/fiesta/settings/project.py
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ def ALLOWED_HOSTS(self):
         return [f".{self.ROOT_DOMAIN}"]
 
     # overwritten by production mixins
-    EMAIL_BACKEND = "django.core.mail.backends.console.EmailBackend"
+    EMAIL_BACKEND = Value(default="django.core.mail.backends.console.EmailBackend")
 
     def DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL(self):
         return f"Fiesta+ <noreply@{self.ROOT_DOMAIN}>"