diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 35ff802d2..0e13800e0 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -79,8 +79,7 @@ frontend-%: node_modules
 --frontend-test-watch: WATCH=--single-run false
 --frontend-test-watch: --frontend-test
 
-node_modules: package.json
-	$(MAKE) .npmrc
+node_modules: .npmrc package.json
 	npm ci --cache .npm --prefer-offline
 
 .npmrc: