diff --git a/src/bin/cargo/commands/clean.rs b/src/bin/cargo/commands/clean.rs
index 8a5645e33..d81d01471 100644
--- a/src/bin/cargo/commands/clean.rs
+++ b/src/bin/cargo/commands/clean.rs
@@ -14,6 +14,13 @@ pub fn cli() -> Command {
         .arg_target_triple("Target triple to clean output for")
         .arg_target_dir()
         .arg_manifest_path()
+        .arg(
+            flag(
+                "dry-run",
+                "Display what would be deleted without deleting anything",
+            )
+            .short('n'),
+        )
         .after_help(color_print::cstr!(
             "Run `<cyan,bold>cargo help clean</>` for more detailed information.\n"
         ))
@@ -33,6 +40,7 @@ pub fn exec(config: &mut Config, args: &ArgMatches) -> CliResult {
         requested_profile: args.get_profile_name(config, "dev", ProfileChecking::Custom)?,
         profile_specified: args.contains_id("profile") || args.flag("release"),
         doc: args.flag("doc"),
+        dry_run: args.flag("dry-run"),
     };
     ops::clean(&ws, &opts)?;
     Ok(())
diff --git a/src/cargo/ops/cargo_clean.rs b/src/cargo/ops/cargo_clean.rs
index 982b8cc09..61cbd2908 100644
--- a/src/cargo/ops/cargo_clean.rs
+++ b/src/cargo/ops/cargo_clean.rs
@@ -23,11 +23,14 @@ pub struct CleanOptions<'cfg> {
     pub requested_profile: InternedString,
     /// Whether to just clean the doc directory
     pub doc: bool,
+    /// If set, doesn't delete anything.
+    pub dry_run: bool,
 }
 
 pub struct CleanContext<'cfg> {
     pub config: &'cfg Config,
     progress: Box<dyn CleaningProgressBar + 'cfg>,
+    pub dry_run: bool,
 }
 
 /// Cleans various caches.
@@ -35,6 +38,7 @@ pub fn clean(ws: &Workspace<'_>, opts: &CleanOptions<'_>) -> CargoResult<()> {
     let mut target_dir = ws.target_dir();
     let config = opts.config;
     let mut ctx = CleanContext::new(config);
+    ctx.dry_run = opts.dry_run;
 
     if opts.doc {
         if !opts.spec.is_empty() {
@@ -262,6 +266,7 @@ impl<'cfg> CleanContext<'cfg> {
         CleanContext {
             config,
             progress: Box::new(progress),
+            dry_run: false,
         }
     }
 
@@ -322,26 +327,48 @@ impl<'cfg> CleanContext<'cfg> {
             }
         };
 
-        self.config
-            .shell()
-            .verbose(|shell| shell.status("Removing", path.display()))?;
+        if self.dry_run {
+            // Concise because if in verbose mode, the path will be written in
+            // the loop below.
+            self.config
+                .shell()
+                .concise(|shell| Ok(writeln!(shell.out(), "{}", path.display())?))?;
+        } else {
+            self.config
+                .shell()
+                .verbose(|shell| shell.status("Removing", path.display()))?;
+        }
         self.progress.display_now()?;
 
+        let rm_file = |path: &Path| {
+            if !self.dry_run {
+                paths::remove_file(path)?;
+            }
+            Ok(())
+        };
+
         if !meta.is_dir() {
-            return paths::remove_file(path);
+            return rm_file(path);
         }
 
         for entry in walkdir::WalkDir::new(path).contents_first(true) {
             let entry = entry?;
             self.progress.on_clean()?;
+            if self.dry_run {
+                self.config
+                    .shell()
+                    .verbose(|shell| Ok(writeln!(shell.out(), "{}", entry.path().display())?))?;
+            }
             if entry.file_type().is_dir() {
                 // The contents should have been removed by now, but sometimes a race condition is hit
                 // where other files have been added by the OS. `paths::remove_dir_all` also falls back
                 // to `std::fs::remove_dir_all`, which may be more reliable than a simple walk in
                 // platform-specific edge cases.
-                paths::remove_dir_all(entry.path())?;
+                if !self.dry_run {
+                    paths::remove_dir_all(entry.path())?;
+                }
             } else {
-                paths::remove_file(entry.path())?;
+                rm_file(entry.path())?;
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/tests/testsuite/cargo_clean/help/stdout.log b/tests/testsuite/cargo_clean/help/stdout.log
index 2074d9633..6e9e82772 100644
--- a/tests/testsuite/cargo_clean/help/stdout.log
+++ b/tests/testsuite/cargo_clean/help/stdout.log
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ Usage: cargo[EXE] clean [OPTIONS]
 Options:
       --doc                 Whether or not to clean just the documentation directory
   -q, --quiet               Do not print cargo log messages
+  -n, --dry-run             Display what would be deleted without deleting anything
   -v, --verbose...          Use verbose output (-vv very verbose/build.rs output)
       --color <WHEN>        Coloring: auto, always, never
       --config <KEY=VALUE>  Override a configuration value
diff --git a/tests/testsuite/clean.rs b/tests/testsuite/clean.rs
index 26cc11a4a..ec1e6c531 100644
--- a/tests/testsuite/clean.rs
+++ b/tests/testsuite/clean.rs
@@ -782,6 +782,50 @@ fn clean_spec_reserved() {
         .run();
 }
 
+#[cargo_test]
+fn clean_dry_run() {
+    // Basic `clean --dry-run` test.
+    Package::new("bar", "1.0.0").publish();
+    let p = project()
+        .file(
+            "Cargo.toml",
+            r#"
+                [package]
+                name = "foo"
+                version = "0.1.0"
+
+                [dependencies]
+                bar = "1.0"
+            "#,
+        )
+        .file("src/lib.rs", "")
+        .build();
+
+    let ls_r = || -> Vec<_> {
+        let mut file_list: Vec<_> = walkdir::WalkDir::new(p.build_dir())
+            .into_iter()
+            .filter_map(|e| e.map(|e| e.path().to_owned()).ok())
+            .collect();
+        file_list.sort();
+        file_list
+    };
+
+    // Start with no files.
+    p.cargo("clean --dry-run").with_stdout("").run();
+    p.cargo("check").run();
+    let before = ls_r();
+    p.cargo("clean --dry-run").with_stdout("[CWD]/target").run();
+    // Verify it didn't delete anything.
+    let after = ls_r();
+    assert_eq!(before, after);
+    let expected = cargo::util::iter_join(before.iter().map(|p| p.to_str().unwrap()), "\n");
+    eprintln!("{expected}");
+    // Verify the verbose output.
+    p.cargo("clean --dry-run -v")
+        .with_stdout_unordered(expected)
+        .run();
+}
+
 #[cargo_test]
 fn doc_with_package_selection() {
     // --doc with -p