diff --git a/ci/test/cudf.sh b/ci/test/cudf.sh
index ff3e9dd2..a899be88 100644
--- a/ci/test/cudf.sh
+++ b/ci/test/cudf.sh
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ export PYTHONPATH=\
 ${PYTHONPATH}
 
 cd /rapids/cudf/python/cudf
-py.test --junitxml=${TESTRESULTS_DIR}/pytest-cudf.xml -v
+py.test -n 6 --junitxml=${TESTRESULTS_DIR}/pytest-cudf.xml -v
 exitcode=$?
 if (( ${exitcode} != 0 )); then
    SUITEERROR=${exitcode}
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ if (( ${exitcode} != 0 )); then
 fi
 
 cd /rapids/cudf/python/dask_cudf
-py.test --junitxml=${TESTRESULTS_DIR}/pytest-dask-cudf.xml -v
+py.test -n 6 --junitxml=${TESTRESULTS_DIR}/pytest-dask-cudf.xml -v
 exitcode=$?
 if (( ${exitcode} != 0 )); then
    SUITEERROR=${exitcode}
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ if (( ${exitcode} != 0 )); then
 fi
 
 cd /rapids/cudf/python/custreamz
-py.test --junitxml=${TESTRESULTS_DIR}/pytest-custreamz.xml -v
+py.test -n 6 --junitxml=${TESTRESULTS_DIR}/pytest-custreamz.xml -v
 exitcode=$?
 if (( ${exitcode} != 0 )); then
    SUITEERROR=${exitcode}
diff --git a/conda/recipes/rapids-build-env/meta.yaml b/conda/recipes/rapids-build-env/meta.yaml
index 95f6e696..e80814c7 100644
--- a/conda/recipes/rapids-build-env/meta.yaml
+++ b/conda/recipes/rapids-build-env/meta.yaml
@@ -116,6 +116,7 @@ requirements:
     - pytest-benchmark
     - pytest-cov
     - pytest-timeout
+    - pytest-xdist
     - python
     - python-confluent-kafka {{ python_confluent_kafka_version }}
     - python-louvain