diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 30514304f2..83b217ce91 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 #    * All cmds must be added to this top level Makefile.
 #    * All binaries are placed in ./bin, its recommended to add this directory to your PATH.
 #    * Each package that has a need to run go generate, must have its own Makefile for that purpose.
-#    * All recursive Makefiles must support the targets: all and clean.
+#    * All recursive Makefiles must support the all target
 #
 
 SUBDIRS := query task
@@ -127,9 +127,7 @@ bench:
 nightly: all
 	env GO111MODULE=on go run github.com/goreleaser/goreleaser --snapshot --rm-dist --publish-snapshots
 
-# Recursively clean all subdirs
-clean: $(SUBDIRS)
-	@for d in $^; do $(MAKE) -C $$d $(MAKECMDGOALS); done
+clean:
 	$(MAKE) -C ui $(MAKECMDGOALS)
 	rm -rf bin
 
diff --git a/query/Makefile b/query/Makefile
index 09455a3407..6c04c76050 100644
--- a/query/Makefile
+++ b/query/Makefile
@@ -8,7 +8,5 @@ $(SUBDIRS):
 
 all: $(SUBDIRS)
 
-clean: $(SUBDIRS)
-
-.PHONY: all clean subdirs $(SUBDIRS)
+.PHONY: all subdirs $(SUBDIRS)
 
diff --git a/query/promql/Makefile b/query/promql/Makefile
index 31fb8e2f85..2babd5c01b 100644
--- a/query/promql/Makefile
+++ b/query/promql/Makefile
@@ -5,7 +5,4 @@ GO_GENERATE := go generate
 promql.go: promql.peg gen.go
 	$(GO_GENERATE) -x
 
-clean:
-	rm -f promql.go
-
-.PHONY: all clean
+.PHONY: all
diff --git a/task/Makefile b/task/Makefile
index ba5f404437..989f987487 100644
--- a/task/Makefile
+++ b/task/Makefile
@@ -7,7 +7,4 @@ $(SUBDIRS):
 
 all: $(SUBDIRS)
 
-clean: $(SUBDIRS)
-
-
-.PHONY: all clean subdirs $(SUBDIRS)
+.PHONY: all subdirs $(SUBDIRS)
diff --git a/task/backend/Makefile b/task/backend/Makefile
index c6b64cb107..96bb9a2c49 100644
--- a/task/backend/Makefile
+++ b/task/backend/Makefile
@@ -7,7 +7,4 @@ all: $(targets)
 $(targets): meta.proto
 	$(GO_GENERATE) -x
 
-clean:
-	rm -f $(targets)
-
-.PHONY: all clean
+.PHONY: all