diff --git a/cmd/minikube/cmd/image.go b/cmd/minikube/cmd/image.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..d8748d29255bb40de7f1d8ed1e884d1125457d86
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/minikube/cmd/image.go
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2017 The Kubernetes Authors All rights reserved.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package cmd
+
+import (
+	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
+	"github.com/spf13/viper"
+	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/config"
+	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/exit"
+	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/machine"
+	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/reason"
+)
+
+// imageCmd represents the image command
+var imageCmd = &cobra.Command{
+	Use:   "image",
+	Short: "Load a local image into minikube",
+	Long:  "Load a local image into minikube",
+}
+
+// loadImageCmd represents the image load command
+var loadImageCmd = &cobra.Command{
+	Use:   "load",
+	Short: "Load a local image into minikube",
+	Long:  "Load a local image into minikube",
+	Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
+		if len(args) == 0 {
+			exit.Message(reason.Usage, "Please provide an image in your local daemon or a path to an image tarball to load into minikube via <minikube image load IMAGE_NAME>")
+		}
+		// Cache and load images into docker daemon
+		profile := viper.GetString(config.ProfileName)
+		img := args[0]
+		if err := machine.LoadImage(profile, img); err != nil {
+			exit.Error(reason.InternalCacheLoad, "Failed to cache and load images", err)
+		}
+	},
+}
+
+func init() {
+	imageCmd.AddCommand(loadImageCmd)
+}
diff --git a/cmd/minikube/cmd/root.go b/cmd/minikube/cmd/root.go
index a29886b5b20784a6fd97bbe1250441b53caabb0d..17850e985b82cb1c963e73bfe02e89e73cd7f2f8 100644
--- a/cmd/minikube/cmd/root.go
+++ b/cmd/minikube/cmd/root.go
@@ -201,6 +201,7 @@ func init() {
 				dockerEnvCmd,
 				podmanEnvCmd,
 				cacheCmd,
+				imageCmd,
 			},
 		},
 		{
diff --git a/pkg/minikube/image/image.go b/pkg/minikube/image/image.go
index ece5fb4e324dec2b0e7af3b23b119565b3a4bccd..f736e0b4b37d24196b770f21178bb0c02b1720df 100644
--- a/pkg/minikube/image/image.go
+++ b/pkg/minikube/image/image.go
@@ -123,6 +123,27 @@ func LoadFromTarball(binary, img string) error {
 
 }
 
+// SaveToTarball saves img as a tarball at the given path
+func SaveToTarball(img, path string) error {
+	if !ExistsImageInDaemon(img) {
+		return fmt.Errorf("%s does not exist in local daemon, can't save to tarball", img)
+	}
+	ref, err := name.ParseReference(img)
+	if err != nil {
+		return errors.Wrap(err, "parsing reference")
+	}
+	i, err := daemon.Image(ref)
+	if err != nil {
+		return errors.Wrap(err, "getting image")
+	}
+	f, err := os.Create(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return errors.Wrap(err, "creating tmp path")
+	}
+	defer f.Close()
+	return tarball.Write(ref, i, f)
+}
+
 // Tag returns just the image with the tag
 // eg image:tag@sha256:digest -> image:tag if there is an associated tag
 // if not possible, just return the initial img
diff --git a/pkg/minikube/machine/cache_images.go b/pkg/minikube/machine/cache_images.go
index 3b5f2d379e53c0b01272b0fd2841930c09abe1e0..90731e7859f62aedc2e8fbaa7b5de74f402a9c25 100644
--- a/pkg/minikube/machine/cache_images.go
+++ b/pkg/minikube/machine/cache_images.go
@@ -18,7 +18,9 @@ package machine
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
+	"os/exec"
 	"path"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
@@ -61,6 +63,74 @@ func CacheImagesForBootstrapper(imageRepository string, version string, clusterB
 	return nil
 }
 
+// LoadImage loads the local image into the container runtime
+func LoadImage(profile, img string) error {
+	cc, err := config.Load(profile)
+	if err != nil {
+		return errors.Wrap(err, "loading profile")
+	}
+	// if the image exists in the local daemon, save it as a tarball
+	if image.ExistsImageInDaemon(img) {
+		tmpFile, err := ioutil.TempFile("", "")
+		if err != nil {
+			return errors.Wrap(err, "temp file")
+		}
+		tmpFile.Close()
+		defer os.Remove(tmpFile.Name())
+		img = tmpFile.Name()
+	}
+	dst := "/tmp/img.tar"
+	if err := copyAndLoadTarballIntoHost(cc, img, dst, profile); err != nil {
+		return errors.Wrap(err, "copying tarball into host")
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func copyAndLoadTarballIntoHost(cc *config.ClusterConfig, srcPath, dstPath, profile string) error {
+	c, err := config.Load(profile)
+	if err != nil {
+		return errors.Wrap(err, "loading profile config")
+	}
+	api, err := NewAPIClient()
+	if err != nil {
+		return errors.Wrap(err, "api")
+	}
+	defer api.Close()
+	for _, n := range c.Nodes {
+		m := config.MachineName(*c, n)
+		h, err := api.Load(m)
+		if err != nil {
+			return errors.Wrap(err, "loading api")
+		}
+		cr, err := CommandRunner(h)
+		if err != nil {
+			return errors.Wrap(err, "command runner")
+		}
+		tarballImg, err := assets.NewFileAsset(srcPath, filepath.Dir(dstPath), filepath.Base(dstPath), "0644")
+		if err != nil {
+			return errors.Wrap(err, "new file asset")
+		}
+		// copy tarball into minikube
+
+		if err := cr.Copy(tarballImg); err != nil {
+			return errors.Wrap(err, "copying tarball")
+		}
+		// load image into container runtime
+		containerRuntime, err := cruntime.New(cruntime.Config{Type: cc.KubernetesConfig.ContainerRuntime, Runner: cr})
+		if err != nil {
+			return errors.Wrap(err, "runtime")
+		}
+		if err := containerRuntime.LoadImage(dstPath); err != nil {
+			return errors.Wrap(err, "loading image into container runtime")
+		}
+		// delete destination image tarball on host
+		if _, err := cr.RunCmd(exec.Command("rm", dstPath)); err != nil {
+			return errors.Wrap(err, "removing destination tarball")
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 // LoadImages loads previously cached images into the container runtime
 func LoadImages(cc *config.ClusterConfig, runner command.Runner, images []string, cacheDir string) error {
 	cr, err := cruntime.New(cruntime.Config{Type: cc.KubernetesConfig.ContainerRuntime, Runner: runner})