diff --git a/lib/commands/generate.js b/lib/commands/generate.js
index 6d488abe52e..93d32784a0b 100644
--- a/lib/commands/generate.js
+++ b/lib/commands/generate.js
@@ -9,6 +9,11 @@ const _ = require('ember-cli-lodash-subset');
 const EOL = require('os').EOL;
 const SilentError = require('silent-error');
 
+const UNKNOWN_BLUEPRINT_ERROR =
+  'The `ember generate` command requires a ' +
+  'blueprint name or path (via --blueprint) to be specified. ' +
+  'For more details, use `ember help`.';
+
 module.exports = Command.extend({
   name: 'generate',
   description: 'Generates new code from blueprints.',
@@ -22,6 +27,13 @@ module.exports = Command.extend({
     { name: 'classic', type: Boolean, default: false, aliases: ['c'] },
     { name: 'dummy', type: Boolean, default: false, aliases: ['dum', 'id'] },
     { name: 'in-repo-addon', type: String, default: null, aliases: ['in-repo', 'ir'] },
+    {
+      name: 'blueprint',
+      type: String,
+      default: null,
+      description:
+        'Specifies a path to a local blueprint to use instead of using a resolved blueprint matching the name',
+    },
     {
       name: 'in',
       type: String,
@@ -37,15 +49,10 @@ module.exports = Command.extend({
 
   run(commandOptions, rawArgs) {
     let blueprintName = rawArgs[0];
+    let blueprintPath = commandOptions.blueprint;
 
-    if (!blueprintName) {
-      return Promise.reject(
-        new SilentError(
-          'The `ember generate` command requires a ' +
-            'blueprint name to be specified. ' +
-            'For more details, use `ember help`.'
-        )
-      );
+    if (!blueprintName && !blueprintPath) {
+      return Promise.reject(new SilentError(UNKNOWN_BLUEPRINT_ERROR));
     }
 
     let taskArgs = {
@@ -165,3 +172,7 @@ module.exports = Command.extend({
     }
   },
 });
+
+module.exports.ERRORS = {
+  UNKNOWN_BLUEPRINT_ERROR,
+};
diff --git a/lib/models/blueprint.js b/lib/models/blueprint.js
index 0736c9753f9..35858475f5c 100644
--- a/lib/models/blueprint.js
+++ b/lib/models/blueprint.js
@@ -1279,6 +1279,20 @@ let Blueprint = CoreObject.extend({
 Blueprint.lookup = function (name, options) {
   options = options || {};
 
+  if (options.blueprintPath) {
+    let blueprintPath = path.resolve(options.blueprintPath);
+
+    if (Blueprint._existsSync(blueprintPath)) {
+      return Blueprint.load(blueprintPath);
+    }
+
+    if (!options.ignoreMissing) {
+      throw new SilentError(`Unknown blueprint: ${name}`);
+    }
+
+    return;
+  }
+
   let lookupPaths = generateLookupPaths(options.paths);
 
   let lookupPath;
diff --git a/lib/tasks/generate-from-blueprint.js b/lib/tasks/generate-from-blueprint.js
index 45ab47d74af..0ff60d92bb1 100644
--- a/lib/tasks/generate-from-blueprint.js
+++ b/lib/tasks/generate-from-blueprint.js
@@ -13,20 +13,21 @@ class GenerateTask extends Task {
 
   async run(options) {
     let name = options.args[0];
+    let blueprintPath = options.blueprint;
     let noAddonBlueprint = ['mixin', 'blueprint-test'];
 
-    let mainBlueprint = this.lookupBlueprint(name, options.ignoreMissingMain);
-    let testBlueprint = this.lookupBlueprint(`${name}-test`, true);
+    let mainBlueprint = this.lookupBlueprint(name, options.ignoreMissingMain, blueprintPath);
+    let testBlueprint = this.lookupBlueprint(`${name}-test`, true, `${blueprintPath}-test`);
 
     // lookup custom addon blueprint
-    let addonBlueprint = this.lookupBlueprint(`${name}-addon`, true);
+    let addonBlueprint = this.lookupBlueprint(`${name}-addon`, true, `${blueprintPath}-addon`);
 
     // otherwise, use default addon-import
     if (noAddonBlueprint.indexOf(name) < 0 && !addonBlueprint && options.args[1]) {
       let mainBlueprintSupportsAddon = mainBlueprint && mainBlueprint.supportsAddon();
 
       if (mainBlueprintSupportsAddon) {
-        addonBlueprint = this.lookupBlueprint('addon-import', true);
+        addonBlueprint = this.lookupBlueprint('addon-import', true, `${blueprintPath}-addon-import`);
       }
     }
 
@@ -91,10 +92,11 @@ class GenerateTask extends Task {
     return addonBlueprint[this.blueprintFunction](addonBlueprintOptions);
   }
 
-  lookupBlueprint(name, ignoreMissing) {
+  lookupBlueprint(name, ignoreMissing, blueprintPath) {
     return Blueprint.lookup(name, {
       paths: this.project.blueprintLookupPaths(),
       ignoreMissing,
+      blueprintPath,
     });
   }
 }
diff --git a/tests/acceptance/generate-test.js b/tests/acceptance/generate-test.js
index bbf16bb516d..027fe071d1f 100755
--- a/tests/acceptance/generate-test.js
+++ b/tests/acceptance/generate-test.js
@@ -268,6 +268,22 @@ describe('Acceptance: ember generate', function () {
     expect(file('app/controllers/foo.js')).to.contain('custom: true');
   });
 
+  it('allows a path to be specified to a blueprint', async function () {
+    await outputFile(
+      'blueprints/http-proxy/files/server/proxies/__name__.js',
+      "import Ember from 'ember';\n" + 'export default Ember.Object.extend({ foo: true });\n'
+    );
+    await generate([
+      'http-proxy',
+      'foo',
+      'http://localhost:5000',
+      '--blueprint',
+      path.resolve(`${__dirname}/../../blueprints/http-proxy`),
+    ]);
+
+    expect(file('server/index.js')).to.not.contain('foo: true', 'the local blueprint is not used');
+  });
+
   it('passes custom cli arguments to blueprint options', async function () {
     await initApp();
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/commands/generate-test.js b/tests/unit/commands/generate-test.js
index 6a978151c85..1c131633781 100644
--- a/tests/unit/commands/generate-test.js
+++ b/tests/unit/commands/generate-test.js
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ const GenerateCommand = require('../../../lib/commands/generate');
 const td = require('testdouble');
 const ROOT = process.cwd();
 const { createTempDir } = require('broccoli-test-helper');
+const { ERRORS } = GenerateCommand;
 
 describe('generate command', function () {
   let input, options, command;
@@ -98,11 +99,7 @@ describe('generate command', function () {
 
   it('complains if no blueprint name is given', function () {
     return expect(command.validateAndRun([])).to.be.rejected.then((error) => {
-      expect(error.message).to.equal(
-        'The `ember generate` command requires a ' +
-          'blueprint name to be specified. ' +
-          'For more details, use `ember help`.'
-      );
+      expect(error.message).to.equal(ERRORS.UNKNOWN_BLUEPRINT_ERROR);
     });
   });