diff --git a/internal/pipe/env/env.go b/internal/pipe/env/env.go
index 4fe35dbf4..d6b15cd63 100644
--- a/internal/pipe/env/env.go
+++ b/internal/pipe/env/env.go
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/apex/log"
 	"github.com/goreleaser/goreleaser/internal/tmpl"
@@ -49,7 +50,11 @@ func (Pipe) Run(ctx *context.Context) error {
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
-		ctx.Config.Env[i] = env
+		// XXX: this has no risk of panicking because it would already have
+		// panicked at `context.go`'s `splitEnv` method.
+		// Need to properly handle this at some point.
+		parts := strings.SplitN(env, "=", 2)
+		ctx.Env[parts[0]] = parts[1]
 	}
 
 	setDefaultTokenFiles(ctx)
diff --git a/internal/pipe/env/env_test.go b/internal/pipe/env/env_test.go
index 81877f841..365afdc62 100644
--- a/internal/pipe/env/env_test.go
+++ b/internal/pipe/env/env_test.go
@@ -39,12 +39,16 @@ func TestSetDefaultTokenFiles(t *testing.T) {
 			Env: []string{
 				"FOO=FOO_{{ .Env.BAR }}",
 				"FOOBAR={{.ProjectName}}",
+				"EMPTY_VAL=",
 			},
 		})
+		ctx.Env["FOOBAR"] = "old foobar"
 		os.Setenv("BAR", "lebar")
 		os.Setenv("GITHUB_TOKEN", "fake")
 		require.NoError(t, Pipe{}.Run(ctx))
-		require.Equal(t, ctx.Config.Env, []string{"FOO=FOO_lebar", "FOOBAR=foobar"})
+		require.Equal(t, "FOO_lebar", ctx.Env["FOO"])
+		require.Equal(t, "foobar", ctx.Env["FOOBAR"])
+		require.Equal(t, "", ctx.Env["EMPTY_VAL"])
 	})
 
 	t.Run("template error", func(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/pkg/context/context.go b/pkg/context/context.go
index aeb0799af..cc76b7a40 100644
--- a/pkg/context/context.go
+++ b/pkg/context/context.go
@@ -127,6 +127,7 @@ func Wrap(ctx ctx.Context, config config.Project) *Context {
 }
 
 func splitEnv(env []string) map[string]string {
+	// TODO: this might panic if there is no `=` sign
 	r := map[string]string{}
 	for _, e := range env {
 		p := strings.SplitN(e, "=", 2)