diff --git a/cloudinit/config/cc_ansible.py b/cloudinit/config/cc_ansible.py
index 870c8823110..791171e887d 100644
--- a/cloudinit/config/cc_ansible.py
+++ b/cloudinit/config/cc_ansible.py
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ def add_pip_install_site_to_path(self):
                 [
                     sys.executable,
                     "-c",
-                    "import site; print(site.getuserbase())",
+                    "'import site; print(site.getuserbase())'",
                 ]
             )
             ansible_path = f"{user_base}/bin/"