diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f3007fdb88..5290aa7981 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -36,6 +36,16 @@ This will flash the entire project (app, bootloader and partition table) to a ne
 
 You don't need to run `make all` before running `make flash`, `make flash` will automatically rebuild anything which needs it.
 
+# Viewing Serial Output
+
+The `make monitor` target will use the already-installed [miniterm](http://pyserial.readthedocs.io/en/latest/tools.html#module-serial.tools.miniterm) (a part of pyserial) to display serial output from the ESP32 on the terminal console.
+
+Exit miniterm by typing Ctrl-].
+
+To flash and monitor output in one pass, you can run:
+
+`make flash monitor`
+
 # Compiling & Flashing Just the App
 
 After the initial flash, you may just want to build and flash just your app, not the bootloader and partition table:
@@ -47,6 +57,16 @@ After the initial flash, you may just want to build and flash just your app, not
 
 (There's no downside to reflashing the bootloader and partition table each time, if they haven't changed.)
 
+# Parallel Builds
+
+esp-idf supports compiling multiple files in parallel, so all of the above commands can be run as `make -jN` where `N` is the number of parallel make processes to run (generally N should be equal to or one more than the number of CPU cores in your system.)
+
+Multiple make functions can be combined into one. For example: to build the app & bootloader using 5 jobs in parallel, then flash everything, and then display serial output from the ESP32 run:
+
+```
+make -j5 flash monitor
+```
+
 # The Partition Table
 
 Once you've compiled your project, the "build" directory will contain a binary file with a name like "my_app.bin". This is an ESP32 image binary that can be loaded by the bootloader.
diff --git a/components/esptool_py/Kconfig.projbuild b/components/esptool_py/Kconfig.projbuild
index dd2077cbb3..edff88c55d 100644
--- a/components/esptool_py/Kconfig.projbuild
+++ b/components/esptool_py/Kconfig.projbuild
@@ -178,4 +178,44 @@ config ESPTOOLPY_AFTER
     default "hard_reset" if ESPTOOLPY_AFTER_RESET
     default "no_reset" if ESPTOOLPY_AFTER_NORESET
 
+choice MONITOR_BAUD
+    prompt "'make monitor' baud rate"
+    default MONITOR_BAUD_115200B
+    help
+        Baud rate to use when running 'make monitor' to view serial output
+        from a running chip.
+
+        Can override by setting the MONITORBAUD environment variable.
+
+config MONITOR_BAUD_9600B
+    bool "9600 bps"
+config MONITOR_BAUD_57600B
+    bool "57600 bps"
+config MONITOR_BAUD_115200B
+    bool "115200 bps"
+config MONITOR_BAUD_230400B
+    bool "230400 bps"
+config MONITOR_BAUD_921600B
+    bool "921600 bps"
+config MONITOR_BAUD_2MB
+    bool "2 Mbps"
+config MONITOR_BAUD_OTHER
+    bool "Custom baud rate"
+
+endchoice
+
+config MONITOR_BAUD_OTHER_VAL
+    int "Custom baud rate value" if MONITOR_BAUD_OTHER
+    default 115200
+
+config MONITOR_BAUD
+    int
+    default 9600 if MONITOR_BAUD_9600B
+    default 57600 if MONITOR_BAUD_57600B
+    default 115200 if MONITOR_BAUD_115200B
+    default 230400 if MONITOR_BAUD_230400B
+    default 921600 if MONITOR_BAUD_921600B
+    default 2000000 if MONITOR_BAUD_2MB
+    default MONITOR_BAUD_OTHER_VAL if MONITOR_BAUD_OTHER
+
 endmenu
diff --git a/components/esptool_py/Makefile.projbuild b/components/esptool_py/Makefile.projbuild
index 88b5894731..e249d14432 100644
--- a/components/esptool_py/Makefile.projbuild
+++ b/components/esptool_py/Makefile.projbuild
@@ -67,4 +67,12 @@ erase_flash:
 	@echo "Erasing entire flash..."
 	$(ESPTOOLPY_SERIAL) erase_flash
 
+MONITORBAUD ?= $(CONFIG_MONITOR_BAUD)
+
+# note: if you want to run miniterm from command line, can simply run
+# miniterm.py on the console. The '$(PYTHON) -m serial.tools.miniterm'
+# is to allow for the $(PYTHON) variable overriding the python path.
+monitor: $(call prereq_if_explicit,%flash)
+	$(PYTHON) -m serial.tools.miniterm --rts 0 --dtr 0 --raw $(ESPPORT) $(MONITORBAUD)
+
 .PHONY: erase_flash
diff --git a/make/project.mk b/make/project.mk
index a5e487b85c..e2a93ce119 100644
--- a/make/project.mk
+++ b/make/project.mk
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ help:
 	@echo "make clean - Remove all build output"
 	@echo "make size - Display the memory footprint of the app"
 	@echo "make erase_flash - Erase entire flash contents"
+	@echo "make monitor - Display serial output on terminal console"
 	@echo ""
 	@echo "make app - Build just the app"
 	@echo "make app-flash - Flash just the app"