diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index b593dfb9..a849cd98 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ subprojects {
 		dependencies {
 			dependency 'com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-databind:2.4.6'
 			dependency 'com.samskivert:jmustache:1.10'
+			dependency 'commons-codec:commons-codec:1.10'
 			dependency 'javax.servlet:javax.servlet-api:3.1.0'
 			dependency 'javax.validation:validation-api:1.1.0.Final'
 			dependency 'junit:junit:4.12'
diff --git a/spring-restdocs-core/build.gradle b/spring-restdocs-core/build.gradle
index 5f5be34f..2de27164 100644
--- a/spring-restdocs-core/build.gradle
+++ b/spring-restdocs-core/build.gradle
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ dependencies {
 	jarjar 'com.googlecode.jarjar:jarjar:1.3'
 	jmustache 'com.samskivert:jmustache@jar'
 	optional 'javax.validation:validation-api'
+	optional 'commons-codec:commons-codec'
 	testCompile 'org.mockito:mockito-core'
 	testCompile 'org.hamcrest:hamcrest-core'
 	testCompile 'org.hamcrest:hamcrest-library'
diff --git a/spring-restdocs-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/restdocs/curl/CurlRequestSnippet.java b/spring-restdocs-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/restdocs/curl/CurlRequestSnippet.java
index 018cb0f1..0802bdf4 100644
--- a/spring-restdocs-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/restdocs/curl/CurlRequestSnippet.java
+++ b/spring-restdocs-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/restdocs/curl/CurlRequestSnippet.java
@@ -23,18 +23,21 @@ import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Map.Entry;
 
+import org.springframework.http.HttpHeaders;
 import org.springframework.http.HttpMethod;
 import org.springframework.restdocs.operation.Operation;
 import org.springframework.restdocs.operation.OperationRequest;
 import org.springframework.restdocs.operation.OperationRequestPart;
 import org.springframework.restdocs.snippet.Snippet;
 import org.springframework.restdocs.snippet.TemplatedSnippet;
+import org.springframework.util.Base64Utils;
 import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
 
 /**
  * A {@link Snippet} that documents the curl command for a request.
  *
  * @author Andy Wilkinson
+ * @author Paul-Christian Volkmer
  * @see CurlDocumentation#curlRequest()
  * @see CurlDocumentation#curlRequest(Map)
  */
@@ -72,9 +75,10 @@ public class CurlRequestSnippet extends TemplatedSnippet {
 	private String getOptions(Operation operation) {
 		StringWriter command = new StringWriter();
 		PrintWriter printer = new PrintWriter(command);
-		writeOptionToIncludeHeadersInOutput(printer);
+		writeIncludeHeadersInOutputOption(printer);
+		HttpHeaders headers = writeUserOptionIfNecessary(operation.getRequest(), printer);
 		writeHttpMethodIfNecessary(operation.getRequest(), printer);
-		writeHeaders(operation.getRequest(), printer);
+		writeHeaders(headers, printer);
 		writePartsIfNecessary(operation.getRequest(), printer);
 
 		writeContent(operation.getRequest(), printer);
@@ -82,18 +86,36 @@ public class CurlRequestSnippet extends TemplatedSnippet {
 		return command.toString();
 	}
 
-	private void writeOptionToIncludeHeadersInOutput(PrintWriter writer) {
+	private void writeIncludeHeadersInOutputOption(PrintWriter writer) {
 		writer.print("-i");
 	}
 
+	private HttpHeaders writeUserOptionIfNecessary(OperationRequest request,
+			PrintWriter writer) {
+		HttpHeaders headers = new HttpHeaders();
+		headers.putAll(request.getHeaders());
+		String authorization = headers.getFirst(HttpHeaders.AUTHORIZATION);
+		if (isAuthorizationBasicHeader(authorization)) {
+			String credentials = new String(Base64Utils.decodeFromString(authorization
+					.substring(5).trim()));
+			writer.print(String.format(" -u '%s'", credentials));
+			headers.remove(HttpHeaders.AUTHORIZATION);
+		}
+		return headers;
+	}
+
+	private boolean isAuthorizationBasicHeader(String header) {
+		return header != null && header.startsWith("Basic");
+	}
+
 	private void writeHttpMethodIfNecessary(OperationRequest request, PrintWriter writer) {
 		if (!HttpMethod.GET.equals(request.getMethod())) {
 			writer.print(String.format(" -X %s", request.getMethod()));
 		}
 	}
 
-	private void writeHeaders(OperationRequest request, PrintWriter writer) {
-		for (Entry<String, List<String>> entry : request.getHeaders().entrySet()) {
+	private void writeHeaders(HttpHeaders headers, PrintWriter writer) {
+		for (Entry<String, List<String>> entry : headers.entrySet()) {
 			for (String header : entry.getValue()) {
 				writer.print(String.format(" -H '%s: %s'", entry.getKey(), header));
 			}
@@ -142,4 +164,4 @@ public class CurlRequestSnippet extends TemplatedSnippet {
 				|| HttpMethod.POST.equals(request.getMethod());
 	}
 
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/curl/CurlRequestSnippetTests.java b/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/curl/CurlRequestSnippetTests.java
index 96d6927a..2e15a116 100644
--- a/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/curl/CurlRequestSnippetTests.java
+++ b/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/curl/CurlRequestSnippetTests.java
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ import org.springframework.restdocs.templates.TemplateResourceResolver;
 import org.springframework.restdocs.templates.mustache.MustacheTemplateEngine;
 import org.springframework.restdocs.test.ExpectedSnippet;
 import org.springframework.restdocs.test.OperationBuilder;
+import org.springframework.util.Base64Utils;
 
 /**
  * Tests for {@link CurlRequestSnippet}
@@ -44,6 +45,7 @@ import org.springframework.restdocs.test.OperationBuilder;
  * @author Yann Le Guern
  * @author Dmitriy Mayboroda
  * @author Jonathan Pearlin
+ * @author Paul-Christian Volkmer
  */
 public class CurlRequestSnippetTests {
 
@@ -257,4 +259,17 @@ public class CurlRequestSnippetTests {
 						.request("http://localhost/foo").build());
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void basicAuthCredentialsAreSuppliedUsingUserOption() throws IOException {
+		this.snippet.expectCurlRequest("basic-auth").withContents(
+				codeBlock("bash").content(
+						"$ curl 'http://localhost/foo' -i -u 'user:secret'"));
+		new CurlRequestSnippet().document(new OperationBuilder("basic-auth", this.snippet
+				.getOutputDirectory())
+				.request("http://localhost/foo")
+				.header(HttpHeaders.AUTHORIZATION,
+						"Basic " + Base64Utils.encodeToString("user:secret".getBytes()))
+				.build());
+	}
+
 }