diff --git a/bitbake/lib/bb/codeparser.py b/bitbake/lib/bb/codeparser.py
index 2e8b7ced3c..c613806c8e 100644
--- a/bitbake/lib/bb/codeparser.py
+++ b/bitbake/lib/bb/codeparser.py
@@ -490,13 +490,28 @@ class ShellParser():
                 if not isinstance(part, list):
                     continue
 
-                if part[0] in ('`', '$('):
-                    command = pyshlex.wordtree_as_string(part[1:-1])
-                    self._parse_shell(command)
+                candidates = [part]
 
-                    if word[0] in ("cmd_name", "cmd_word"):
-                        if word in words:
-                            words.remove(word)
+                # If command is of type:
+                #
+                #   var="... $(cmd [...]) ..."
+                #
+                # Then iterate on what's between the quotes and if we find a
+                # list, make that what we check for below.
+                if len(part) >= 3 and part[0] == '"':
+                    for p in part[1:-1]:
+                        if isinstance(p, list):
+                            candidates.append(p)
+
+                for candidate in candidates:
+                    if len(candidate) >= 2:
+                        if candidate[0] in ('`', '$('):
+                            command = pyshlex.wordtree_as_string(candidate[1:-1])
+                            self._parse_shell(command)
+
+                            if word[0] in ("cmd_name", "cmd_word"):
+                                if word in words:
+                                    words.remove(word)
 
         usetoken = False
         for word in words: