diff --git a/examples/spark/images/Makefile b/examples/spark/images/Makefile
index 07d64c7006..baa1fc18e1 100644
--- a/examples/spark/images/Makefile
+++ b/examples/spark/images/Makefile
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ TAG = 1.5.1_v2
 
 # To bump the Zeppelin version, bump the version in
 # zeppelin/Dockerfile and bump this tag and reset to v1.
-ZEPPELIN_TAG = v0.5.5_v2
+ZEPPELIN_TAG = v0.5.5_v3
 
 spark:
 	docker build -t gcr.io/google_containers/spark-base base
@@ -24,15 +24,12 @@ spark:
 	docker build -t gcr.io/google_containers/spark-driver driver
 	docker tag gcr.io/google_containers/spark-driver gcr.io/google_containers/spark-driver:$(TAG)
 
+# This target is useful when needing to use an unreleased version of Zeppelin
 zeppelin-build:
 	docker build -t gcr.io/google_containers/zeppelin-build zeppelin-build
 	docker tag -f gcr.io/google_containers/zeppelin-build gcr.io/google_containers/zeppelin-build:$(ZEPPELIN_TAG)
 
-zeppelin: zeppelin-build
-	docker create --name=zeppelin-build-tmp gcr.io/google_containers/zeppelin-build:$(ZEPPELIN_TAG)
-	docker cp zeppelin-build-tmp:/zeppelin.tgz zeppelin
-	docker rm -f zeppelin-build-tmp
-
+zeppelin:
 	docker build -t gcr.io/google_containers/zeppelin zeppelin
 	docker tag -f gcr.io/google_containers/zeppelin gcr.io/google_containers/zeppelin:$(ZEPPELIN_TAG)
 
diff --git a/examples/spark/images/zeppelin/Dockerfile b/examples/spark/images/zeppelin/Dockerfile
index 8b08d8727f..0208766e86 100644
--- a/examples/spark/images/zeppelin/Dockerfile
+++ b/examples/spark/images/zeppelin/Dockerfile
@@ -17,8 +17,15 @@
 
 FROM gcr.io/google_containers/spark-base:latest
 
-# Expands to /opt/zeppelin/
-ADD zeppelin.tgz /opt/
+ENV ZEPPELIN_VER  0.5.5-incubating
+
+RUN mkdir -p /opt && \
+    cd /opt && \
+    curl http://www.us.apache.org/dist/incubator/zeppelin/${ZEPPELIN_VER}/zeppelin-${ZEPPELIN_VER}-bin-all.tgz | \
+        tar -zx && \
+    ln -s zeppelin-${ZEPPELIN_VER}-bin-all zeppelin && \
+    echo Zeppelin ${ZEPPELIN_VER} installed in /opt
+
 ADD zeppelin-log4j.properties /opt/zeppelin/conf/log4j.properties
 ADD zeppelin-env.sh /opt/zeppelin/conf/zeppelin-env.sh
 ADD docker-zeppelin.sh /opt/zeppelin/bin/docker-zeppelin.sh