diff --git a/mealie/core/config.py b/mealie/core/config.py
index d1c0bca75..8263019e2 100644
--- a/mealie/core/config.py
+++ b/mealie/core/config.py
@@ -109,23 +109,28 @@ class AppSettings(BaseSettings):
 
     SECRET: str = determine_secrets(DATA_DIR, PRODUCTION)
 
-    DB_URL: Union[str, PostgresDsn] = "sqlite"
+    DB_ENGINE: Optional[str] = None  # Optional: 'sqlite', 'postgres'
     POSTGRES_USER: str = "mealie"
     POSTGRES_PASSWORD: str = "mealie"
     POSTGRES_SERVER: str = "postgres"
+    POSTGRES_PORT: str = 5432
     POSTGRES_DB: str = "mealie"
 
+    DB_URL: Union[str, PostgresDsn] = None  # Actual DB_URL is calculated with `assemble_db_connection`
+
     @validator("DB_URL", pre=True)
     def assemble_db_connection(cls, v: Optional[str], values: dict[str, Any]) -> Any:
-        if isinstance(v, str) and "sqlite" in v:
-            return determine_sqlite_path()
-        return PostgresDsn.build(
-            scheme="postgresql",
-            user=values.get("POSTGRES_USER"),
-            password=values.get("POSTGRES_PASSWORD"),
-            host=values.get("POSTGRES_SERVER"),
-            path=f"/{values.get('POSTGRES_DB') or ''}",
-        )
+        engine = values.get("DB_ENGINE", "sqlite")
+        if engine == "postgres":
+            host = f"{values.get('POSTGRES_SERVER')}:{values.get('POSTGRES_PORT')}"
+            return PostgresDsn.build(
+                scheme="postgresql",
+                user=values.get("POSTGRES_USER"),
+                password=values.get("POSTGRES_PASSWORD"),
+                host=host,
+                path=f"/{values.get('POSTGRES_DB') or ''}",
+            )
+        return determine_sqlite_path()
 
     DEFAULT_GROUP: str = "Home"
     DEFAULT_EMAIL: str = "changeme@email.com"
diff --git a/tests/unit_tests/test_config.py b/tests/unit_tests/test_config.py
index 60ff8c8c6..16730b764 100644
--- a/tests/unit_tests/test_config.py
+++ b/tests/unit_tests/test_config.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 from pathlib import Path
-
+import re
 from mealie.core.config import CWD, DATA_DIR, AppDirectories, AppSettings, determine_data_dir, determine_secrets
 
 
@@ -47,6 +47,15 @@ def test_non_default_settings(monkeypatch):
     assert app_settings.REDOC_URL is None
     assert app_settings.DOCS_URL is None
 
+def test_default_connection_args():
+    app_settings = AppSettings()
+    assert re.match(r"sqlite:////.*mealie/dev/data/mealie_v0.5.0.db", app_settings.DB_URL)
+
+def test_pg_connection_args(monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.setenv("DB_ENGINE", "postgres")
+    app_settings = AppSettings()
+    assert app_settings.DB_URL == "postgresql://mealie:mealie@postgres:5432/mealie"
+
 
 def test_secret_generation(tmp_path):
     app_dirs = AppDirectories(CWD, DATA_DIR)