Here is an example of setting an option in a statement inside a procedure using a plan guide: USE tempdb; GO CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.test AS BEGIN SET NOCOUNT ON; SELECT svp.name AS login_name, dbp.name AS user_name FROM sys.database_principals AS dbp INNER JOIN sys.server_principals AS svp ON dbp.sid = svp.sid; END GO -- Use Ctrl+M to capture the execution plan -- You will see loop joins used EXEC dbo.test; EXEC sp_create_plan_guide @name = 'UseHash', @stmt = 'SELECT svp.name AS login_name, dbp.name AS user_name FROM sys.database_principals AS dbp INNER JOIN sys.server_principals AS svp ON dbp.sid = svp.sid;', @type = 'OBJECT', @module_or_batch = 'dbo.test', @hints = 'OPTION (HASH JOIN)' GO -- Use Ctrl+M to capture the execution plan -- You will see hash joins used EXEC dbo.test;