diff --git a/provisioner/ansible/provisioner.go b/provisioner/ansible/provisioner.go
index f64a58fb9..84f1fde81 100644
--- a/provisioner/ansible/provisioner.go
+++ b/provisioner/ansible/provisioner.go
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ type Config struct {
 	SSHAuthorizedKeyFile string   `mapstructure:"ssh_authorized_key_file"`
 	SFTPCmd              string   `mapstructure:"sftp_command"`
 	UseSFTP              bool     `mapstructure:"use_sftp"`
+	InventoryDirectory   string   `mapstructure:"inventory_directory"`
 	inventoryFile        string
 }
 
@@ -123,6 +124,14 @@ func (p *Provisioner) Prepare(raws ...interface{}) error {
 		p.config.LocalPort = "0"
 	}
 
+	if len(p.config.InventoryDirectory) > 0 {
+		err = validateInventoryDirectoryConfig(p.config.InventoryDirectory)
+		if err != nil {
+			log.Println(p.config.InventoryDirectory, "does not exist")
+			errs = packer.MultiErrorAppend(errs, err)
+		}
+	}
+
 	err = p.getVersion()
 	if err != nil {
 		errs = packer.MultiErrorAppend(errs, err)
@@ -249,7 +258,7 @@ func (p *Provisioner) Provision(ui packer.Ui, comm packer.Communicator) error {
 	go p.adapter.Serve()
 
 	if len(p.config.inventoryFile) == 0 {
-		tf, err := ioutil.TempFile("", "packer-provisioner-ansible")
+		tf, err := ioutil.TempFile(p.config.InventoryDirectory, "packer-provisioner-ansible")
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("Error preparing inventory file: %s", err)
 		}
@@ -384,6 +393,16 @@ func validateFileConfig(name string, config string, req bool) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+func validateInventoryDirectoryConfig(name string) error {
+	info, err := os.Stat(name)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("inventory_directory: %s is invalid: %s", name, err)
+	} else if !info.IsDir() {
+		return fmt.Errorf("inventory_directory: %s must point to a directory", name)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 type userKey struct {
 	ssh.PublicKey
 	privKeyFile string
diff --git a/provisioner/ansible/provisioner_test.go b/provisioner/ansible/provisioner_test.go
index bda07080b..47f185c9e 100644
--- a/provisioner/ansible/provisioner_test.go
+++ b/provisioner/ansible/provisioner_test.go
@@ -246,6 +246,52 @@ func TestProvisionerPrepare_LocalPort(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestProvisionerPrepare_InventoryDirectory(t *testing.T) {
+	var p Provisioner
+	config := testConfig(t)
+	defer os.Remove(config["command"].(string))
+
+	hostkey_file, err := ioutil.TempFile("", "hostkey")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
+	}
+	defer os.Remove(hostkey_file.Name())
+
+	publickey_file, err := ioutil.TempFile("", "publickey")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
+	}
+	defer os.Remove(publickey_file.Name())
+
+	playbook_file, err := ioutil.TempFile("", "playbook")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
+	}
+	defer os.Remove(playbook_file.Name())
+
+	config["ssh_host_key_file"] = hostkey_file.Name()
+	config["ssh_authorized_key_file"] = publickey_file.Name()
+	config["playbook_file"] = playbook_file.Name()
+
+	config["inventory_directory"] = "doesnotexist"
+	err = p.Prepare(config)
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Errorf("should error if inventory_directory does not exist")
+	}
+
+	inventoryDirectory, err := ioutil.TempDir("", "some_inventory_dir")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
+	}
+	defer os.Remove(inventoryDirectory)
+
+	config["inventory_directory"] = inventoryDirectory
+	err = p.Prepare(config)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestAnsibleGetVersion(t *testing.T) {
 	if os.Getenv("PACKER_ACC") == "" {
 		t.Skip("This test is only run with PACKER_ACC=1 and it requires Ansible to be installed")
diff --git a/website/source/docs/provisioners/ansible.html.md b/website/source/docs/provisioners/ansible.html.md
index c578e9a68..97a231fba 100644
--- a/website/source/docs/provisioners/ansible.html.md
+++ b/website/source/docs/provisioners/ansible.html.md
@@ -114,6 +114,13 @@ Optional Parameters:
 - `user` (string) - The `ansible_user` to use. Defaults to the user running
   packer.
 
+- `inventory_directory` (string) - The directory in which to place the
+  temporary generated Ansible inventory file. By default, this is the
+  system-specific temporary file location.  The fully-qualified name of this
+  temporary file will be passed to the `-i` argument of the `ansible` command
+  when this provisioner runs ansible.  Specify this if you have an existing
+  inventory directory with `host_vars` `group_vars` that you would like to use
+  in the playbook that this provisioner will run.
 
 ## Default Extra Variables
 
@@ -129,7 +136,6 @@ commonly useful Ansible variables:
     machine that the script is running on. This is useful if you want to run
     only certain parts of the playbook on systems built with certain builders.
 
-
 ## Limitations
 
 ### Redhat / CentOS