diff --git a/hack/buildenv.sh b/hack/buildenv.sh
index 5b33045..e394ccc 100755
--- a/hack/buildenv.sh
+++ b/hack/buildenv.sh
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ else
          -e E2E_TRACE="${E2E_TRACE:-}" \
          -e E2E_DISPATCH_TRACE="${E2E_DISPATCH_TRACE:-}" \
          -e E2E_PAUSE_ON_ERROR="${E2E_PAUSE_ON_ERROR:-}" \
+         -e E2E_MULTICORE="${E2E_MULTICORE:-}" \
          -w /src/vpp \
          "${build_image}" \
          "$@"
diff --git a/hack/e2e.sh b/hack/e2e.sh
index 7afe79c..d7de3f8 100755
--- a/hack/e2e.sh
+++ b/hack/e2e.sh
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE}")/.."
 : "${E2E_TRACE:=}"
 : "${E2E_DISPATCH_TRACE:=}"
 : "${E2E_PAUSE_ON_ERROR:=}"
+: "${E2E_MULTICORE:=}"
 
 if grep -q '^gtp ' /proc/modules; then
   echo >&2 "* Using kernel GTP-U support for IPv4 PGW tests"
@@ -31,6 +32,7 @@ fi
 export UPG_TEST_QUICK="${E2E_QUICK}"
 export VPP_TRACE="${E2E_TRACE}"
 export VPP_DISPATCH_TRACE="${E2E_DISPATCH_TRACE}"
+export VPP_MULTICORE="${E2E_MULTICORE}"
 
 case ${E2E_TARGET} in
   debug)
diff --git a/test/e2e/README.md b/test/e2e/README.md
index e7f123b..81e2e7f 100644
--- a/test/e2e/README.md
+++ b/test/e2e/README.md
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ The make commands accept following variables:
 * `E2E_TRACE`: enable VPP trace
 * `E2E_DISPATCH_TRACE`: store the VPP dispatch trace as `dispatch-trace.pcap` in the test dir
 * `E2E_PAUSE_ON_ERROR`: pause on error for interactive debugging
+* `E2E_MULTICORE`: run tests with a single worker core enabled
 
 An example with multiple flags:
 
diff --git a/test/e2e/upg_test.go b/test/e2e/upg_test.go
index 25d1393..432c59c 100644
--- a/test/e2e/upg_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/upg_test.go
@@ -35,6 +35,8 @@ func FailPause(message string, callerSkip ...int) {
 	}
 }
 
+// Here we select logical CPU cores for parallel Ginkgo nodes starting
+// from the least loaded ones.
 var _ = ginkgo.SynchronizedBeforeSuite(func() []byte {
 	percents, err := cpu.Percent(5*time.Second, true)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -57,12 +59,24 @@ var _ = ginkgo.SynchronizedBeforeSuite(func() []byte {
 	}
 	return r
 }, func(data []byte) {
-	// select 2 cores for the current parallel node
 	numCores := len(data) / 2
-	n := (config.GinkgoConfig.ParallelNode - 1) % (numCores / 2)
-	vpp.Cores = []int{
-		int(binary.LittleEndian.Uint16(data[n*4:])),
-		int(binary.LittleEndian.Uint16(data[n*4+2:])),
+	var startupCfg vpp.VPPStartupConfig
+	startupCfg.SetFromEnv()
+	if startupCfg.Multicore {
+		// select 2 cores for the current parallel node
+		// in the multicore mode
+		n := (config.GinkgoConfig.ParallelNode - 1) % (numCores / 2)
+		vpp.Cores = []int{
+			int(binary.LittleEndian.Uint16(data[n*4:])),
+			int(binary.LittleEndian.Uint16(data[n*4+2:])),
+		}
+	} else {
+		// select a single core for the current parallel node
+		// in the single core mode
+		n := (config.GinkgoConfig.ParallelNode - 1) % numCores
+		vpp.Cores = []int{
+			int(binary.LittleEndian.Uint16(data[n*2:])),
+		}
 	}
 	fmt.Println("Cores:", vpp.Cores)
 })
diff --git a/test/e2e/vpp/vpp.go b/test/e2e/vpp/vpp.go
index 1d13629..550bf5f 100644
--- a/test/e2e/vpp/vpp.go
+++ b/test/e2e/vpp/vpp.go
@@ -168,7 +168,9 @@ func (vi *VPPInstance) prepareCommand() (*exec.Cmd, error) {
 	vi.startupCfg.VPPLog = vi.vppFilePath("vpp.log")
 
 	vi.startupCfg.MainCore = Cores[0]
-	vi.startupCfg.WorkerCore = Cores[1]
+	if vi.startupCfg.Multicore {
+		vi.startupCfg.WorkerCore = Cores[1]
+	}
 
 	startupFile, err := vi.writeVPPFile("startup.conf", vi.startupCfg.Get())
 	if err != nil {
@@ -507,15 +509,21 @@ func (vi *VPPInstance) interfaceCmds(nsCfg VPPNetworkNamespace) []string {
 	if mtu == 0 {
 		mtu = DEFAULT_MTU
 	}
-	placement := "main"
-	if nsCfg.Placement >= 0 {
-		placement = fmt.Sprintf("worker %d", nsCfg.Placement)
+	cmds = append(cmds,
+		fmt.Sprintf("create host-interface name %s", nsCfg.VPPLinkName))
+
+	if vi.startupCfg.Multicore {
+		placement := "main"
+		if nsCfg.Placement >= 0 {
+			placement = fmt.Sprintf("worker %d", nsCfg.Placement)
+		}
+		cmds = append(cmds,
+			fmt.Sprintf("set interface rx-placement host-%s %s", nsCfg.VPPLinkName, placement))
 	}
+
 	return append(cmds,
-		fmt.Sprintf("create host-interface name %s", nsCfg.VPPLinkName),
 		// TODO: add an option for interrupt mode
 		// fmt.Sprintf("set interface rx-mode host-%s interrupt", nsCfg.VPPLinkName),
-		fmt.Sprintf("set interface rx-placement host-%s %s", nsCfg.VPPLinkName, placement),
 		fmt.Sprintf("set interface mac address host-%s %s", nsCfg.VPPLinkName, nsCfg.VPPMac),
 		fmt.Sprintf("set interface %s table host-%s %d", ipCmd, nsCfg.VPPLinkName, nsCfg.Table),
 		fmt.Sprintf("set interface ip address host-%s %s", nsCfg.VPPLinkName, nsCfg.VPPIP),
diff --git a/test/e2e/vpp/vppstartup.go b/test/e2e/vpp/vppstartup.go
index df0dfa0..d3036db 100644
--- a/test/e2e/vpp/vppstartup.go
+++ b/test/e2e/vpp/vppstartup.go
@@ -31,7 +31,11 @@ api-trace {
 
 cpu {
   main-core {{.MainCore}}
+{{ if .Multicore }}
   corelist-workers {{.WorkerCore}}
+{{ else }}
+  workers 0
+{{ end }}
 }
 
 statseg {
@@ -80,6 +84,7 @@ type VPPStartupConfig struct {
 	UseGDB        bool
 	Trace         bool
 	DispatchTrace bool
+	Multicore     bool
 }
 
 func (cfg *VPPStartupConfig) SetFromEnv() {
@@ -94,6 +99,7 @@ func (cfg *VPPStartupConfig) SetFromEnv() {
 	cfg.UseGDB = os.Getenv("VPP_NO_GDB") == ""
 	cfg.Trace = os.Getenv("VPP_TRACE") != ""
 	cfg.DispatchTrace = os.Getenv("VPP_DISPATCH_TRACE") != ""
+	cfg.Multicore = os.Getenv("VPP_MULTICORE") != ""
 	cfg.SetDefaults()
 }