diff --git a/pinaxcon/settings.py b/pinaxcon/settings.py
index 79a256e3f7103189ddad71f9fa04385843efabce..486dc0568308b4d2e32d3770e8270625ffd911e4 100644
--- a/pinaxcon/settings.py
+++ b/pinaxcon/settings.py
@@ -249,8 +249,11 @@ FIXTURE_DIRS = [
 
 # Heroku: Get email configuration from environment variables.
 
-EMAIL_BACKEND = "email_log.backends.EmailBackend"
-EMAIL_LOG_BACKEND = os.environ.get("DJANGO_EMAIL_BACKEND", "django.core.mail.backends.console.EmailBackend")  # noqa
+EMAIL_BACKEND = os.environ.get(
+    "DJANGO_EMAIL_BACKEND",
+    "django.core.mail.backends.{}.EmailBackend".format('console' if DEBUG else 'smtp'),
+)
+EMAIL_LOG_BACKEND = "email_log.backends.EmailBackend"
 EMAIL_HOST = os.environ.get("DJANGO_EMAIL_HOST", "")
 EMAIL_PORT = int(os.environ.get("DJANGO_EMAIL_PORT", 25))
 EMAIL_HOST_USER = os.environ.get("DJANGO_EMAIL_HOST_USER", "")