diff --git a/builder/frameworks/espidf.py b/builder/frameworks/espidf.py
index 6c0c06142..20c732d12 100644
--- a/builder/frameworks/espidf.py
+++ b/builder/frameworks/espidf.py
@@ -330,8 +330,9 @@ def _normalize_define(define_string):
         define_string = define_string.strip()
         if "=" in define_string:
             define, value = define_string.split("=", maxsplit=1)
-            if '"' in value and not value.startswith("\\"):
-                # Escape only raw values
+            if any(char in value for char in (' ', '<', '>')):
+                value = f'"{value}"'
+            elif any(char in value for char in ('"', '\'')):
                 value = value.replace('"', '\\"')
             return (define, value)
         return define_string
@@ -342,8 +343,11 @@ def _normalize_define(define_string):
     ]
 
     for f in compile_group.get("compileCommandFragments", []):
-        if f.get("fragment", "").startswith("-D"):
-            result.append(_normalize_define(f["fragment"][2:]))
+        fragment = f.get("fragment", "").strip()
+        if fragment.startswith('"'):
+            fragment = fragment.strip('"')
+        if fragment.startswith("-D"):
+            result.append(_normalize_define(fragment[2:]))
 
     return result
 
@@ -429,8 +433,8 @@ def _extract_flags(config):
         for cg in config["compileGroups"]:
             flags[cg["language"]] = []
             for ccfragment in cg["compileCommandFragments"]:
-                fragment = ccfragment.get("fragment", "")
-                if not fragment.strip() or fragment.startswith("-D"):
+                fragment = ccfragment.get("fragment", "").strip("\" ")
+                if not fragment or fragment.startswith("-D"):
                     continue
                 flags[cg["language"]].extend(
                     click.parser.split_arg_string(fragment.strip())
@@ -715,7 +719,7 @@ def prepare_build_envs(config, default_env, debug_allowed=True):
         build_env = default_env.Clone()
         build_env.SetOption("implicit_cache", 1)
         for cc in compile_commands:
-            build_flags = cc.get("fragment")
+            build_flags = cc.get("fragment", "").strip("\" ")
             if not build_flags.startswith("-D"):
                 if build_flags.startswith("-include") and ".." in build_flags:
                     source_index = cg.get("sourceIndexes")[0]