diff --git a/esphome/components/ota.py b/esphome/components/ota.py
index 18dd5cbd85..3805226aa3 100644
--- a/esphome/components/ota.py
+++ b/esphome/components/ota.py
@@ -46,7 +46,6 @@ def get_auth(config):
 
 
 BUILD_FLAGS = '-DUSE_OTA'
-REQUIRED_BUILD_FLAGS = '-DUSE_NEW_OTA'
 
 
 def lib_deps(config):