diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 19e5a2986..cb5eff6b8 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -19,8 +19,20 @@ RUN make install VERSION=$VERSION HOSTMOUNT_PREFIX=$HOSTMOUNT_PREFIX
 RUN make test
 
 
-# Create production image for running node feature discovery
-FROM debian:buster-slim
+# Create full variant of the production image
+FROM debian:buster-slim as full
+
+# Run as unprivileged user
+USER 65534:65534
+
+# Use more verbose logging of gRPC
+ENV GRPC_GO_LOG_SEVERITY_LEVEL="INFO"
+
+COPY --from=builder /go/node-feature-discovery/nfd-worker.conf.example /etc/kubernetes/node-feature-discovery/nfd-worker.conf
+COPY --from=builder /go/bin/* /usr/bin/
+
+# Create minimal variant of the production image
+FROM gcr.io/distroless/base as minimal
 
 # Run as unprivileged user
 USER 65534:65534
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 8f5e4e2e2..f1a2f9f60 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -72,10 +72,17 @@ install:
 
 image: yamls
 	$(IMAGE_BUILD_CMD) --build-arg VERSION=$(VERSION) \
-		--build-arg HOSTMOUNT_PREFIX=$(CONTAINER_HOSTMOUNT_PREFIX) \
-		-t $(IMAGE_TAG) \
-		$(foreach tag,$(IMAGE_EXTRA_TAGS),-t $(tag)) \
-		$(IMAGE_BUILD_EXTRA_OPTS) ./
+	    --target full \
+	    --build-arg HOSTMOUNT_PREFIX=$(CONTAINER_HOSTMOUNT_PREFIX) \
+	    -t $(IMAGE_TAG) \
+	    $(foreach tag,$(IMAGE_EXTRA_TAGS),-t $(tag)) \
+	    $(IMAGE_BUILD_EXTRA_OPTS) ./
+	$(IMAGE_BUILD_CMD) --build-arg VERSION=$(VERSION) \
+	    --target minimal \
+	    --build-arg HOSTMOUNT_PREFIX=$(CONTAINER_HOSTMOUNT_PREFIX) \
+	    -t $(IMAGE_TAG)-minimal \
+	    $(foreach tag,$(IMAGE_EXTRA_TAGS),-t $(tag)-minimal) \
+	    $(IMAGE_BUILD_EXTRA_OPTS) ./
 
 yamls: $(yaml_instances)
 
@@ -135,22 +142,29 @@ e2e-test:
 	$(GO_CMD) test -v ./test/e2e/ -args -nfd.repo=$(IMAGE_REPO) -nfd.tag=$(IMAGE_TAG_NAME) \
 	    -kubeconfig=$(KUBECONFIG) -nfd.e2e-config=$(E2E_TEST_CONFIG) -ginkgo.focus="\[NFD\]" \
 	    $(if $(OPENSHIFT),-nfd.openshift,)
+	$(GO_CMD) test -v ./test/e2e/ -args -nfd.repo=$(IMAGE_REPO) -nfd.tag=$(IMAGE_TAG_NAME)-minimal \
+	    -kubeconfig=$(KUBECONFIG) -nfd.e2e-config=$(E2E_TEST_CONFIG) -ginkgo.focus="\[NFD\]" \
+	    $(if $(OPENSHIFT),-nfd.openshift,)
 
 push:
 	$(IMAGE_PUSH_CMD) $(IMAGE_TAG)
-	for tag in $(IMAGE_EXTRA_TAGS); do $(IMAGE_PUSH_CMD) $$tag; done
+	$(IMAGE_PUSH_CMD) $(IMAGE_TAG)-minimal
+	for tag in $(IMAGE_EXTRA_TAGS); do $(IMAGE_PUSH_CMD) $$tag; $(IMAGE_PUSH_CMD) $$tag-minimal; done
 
-poll-image:
+poll-images:
 	set -e; \
-	image=$(IMAGE_REPO):$(IMAGE_TAG_NAME); \
+	tags="$(foreach tag,$(IMAGE_TAG_NAME) $(IMAGE_EXTRA_TAG_NAMES),$(tag) $(tag)-minimal)" \
 	base_url=`echo $(IMAGE_REPO) | sed -e s'!\([^/]*\)!\1/v2!'`; \
-	errors=`curl -fsS -X GET https://$$base_url/manifests/$(IMAGE_TAG_NAME)|jq .errors`;  \
-	if [ "$$errors" = "null" ]; then \
-	  echo Image $$image found; \
-	else \
-	  echo Image $$image not found; \
-	  exit 1; \
-	fi;
+	for tag in $$tags; do \
+	    image=$(IMAGE_REPO):$$tag \
+	    errors=`curl -fsS -X GET https://$$base_url/manifests/$$tag|jq .errors`;  \
+	    if [ "$$errors" = "null" ]; then \
+	      echo Image $$image found; \
+	    else \
+	      echo Image $$image not found; \
+	      exit 1; \
+	    fi; \
+	done
 
 site-build:
 	@mkdir -p docs/vendor/bundle
diff --git a/docs/get-started/deployment-and-usage.md b/docs/get-started/deployment-and-usage.md
index 4da0a1c91..b86f5c0f0 100644
--- a/docs/get-started/deployment-and-usage.md
+++ b/docs/get-started/deployment-and-usage.md
@@ -23,6 +23,27 @@ sort: 3
 1. [kubectl](https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/tools/install-kubectl)
    (properly set up and configured to work with your Kubernetes cluster)
 
+## Image variants
+
+NFD currently offers two variants of the container image. The "full" variant is
+currently deployed by default.
+
+### Full
+
+This image is based on
+[debian:buster-slim](https://hub.docker.com/_/debian) and contains a full Linux
+system for running shell-based nfd-worker hooks and doing live debugging and
+diagnosis of the NFD images.
+
+### Minimal
+
+This is a minimal image based on
+[gcr.io/distroless/base](https://github.com/GoogleContainerTools/distroless/blob/master/base/README.md)
+and only supports running statically linked binaries.
+
+The container image tag has suffix `-minimal`
+(e.g. `{{ site.container_image }}-minimal`)
+
 ## Deployment options
 
 ### Operator
diff --git a/docs/get-started/features.md b/docs/get-started/features.md
index cdd6bb9d3..13f09c621 100644
--- a/docs/get-started/features.md
+++ b/docs/get-started/features.md
@@ -542,6 +542,9 @@ The *local* feature source gets its labels by two different ways:
   `/etc/kubernetes/node-feature-discovery/features.d/` directory. The file
   content is expected to be similar to the hook output (described above).
 
+**NOTE:** The [minimal](deployment-and-usage#minimal) image variant only
+supports running statically linked binaries.
+
 These directories must be available inside the Docker image so Volumes and
 VolumeMounts must be used if standard NFD images are used. The given template
 files mount by default the `source.d` and the `features.d` directories
diff --git a/scripts/test-infra/test-e2e.sh b/scripts/test-infra/test-e2e.sh
index 7cebec82d..ce4051c60 100755
--- a/scripts/test-infra/test-e2e.sh
+++ b/scripts/test-infra/test-e2e.sh
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ echo "$E2E_TEST_CONFIG_DATA" > "$E2E_TEST_CONFIG"
 # Wait for the image to be built and published
 i=1
 while true; do
-    if make poll-image; then
+    if make poll-images; then
         break
     elif [ $i -ge 10 ]; then
         "ERROR: too many tries when polling for image"