diff --git a/src/runtimes/node/bundlers/esbuild/bundler.ts b/src/runtimes/node/bundlers/esbuild/bundler.ts
index e367c4070..2f4e319dd 100644
--- a/src/runtimes/node/bundlers/esbuild/bundler.ts
+++ b/src/runtimes/node/bundlers/esbuild/bundler.ts
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import type { RuntimeName } from '../../../runtime'
 import { getBundlerTarget } from './bundler_target'
 import { getDynamicImportsPlugin } from './plugin_dynamic_imports'
 import { getNativeModulesPlugin } from './plugin_native_modules'
+import { getNodeBuiltinPlugin } from './plugin_node_builtin'
 
 // Maximum number of log messages that an esbuild instance will produce. This
 // limit is important to avoid out-of-memory errors due to too much data being
@@ -63,6 +64,7 @@ const bundleJsFile = async function ({
 
   // The list of esbuild plugins to enable for this build.
   const plugins = [
+    getNodeBuiltinPlugin(),
     getNativeModulesPlugin(nativeNodeModules),
     getDynamicImportsPlugin({
       basePath,
diff --git a/src/runtimes/node/bundlers/esbuild/plugin_node_builtin.ts b/src/runtimes/node/bundlers/esbuild/plugin_node_builtin.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..477b4e6b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/runtimes/node/bundlers/esbuild/plugin_node_builtin.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+import type { Plugin } from '@netlify/esbuild'
+
+const getNodeBuiltinPlugin = (): Plugin => ({
+  name: 'builtin-modules',
+  setup(build) {
+    build.onResolve({ filter: /^node:/ }, () => ({ external: true }))
+  },
+})
+
+export { getNodeBuiltinPlugin }
diff --git a/tests/fixtures/node-force-builtin-esm/function.js b/tests/fixtures/node-force-builtin-esm/function.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..548ab4fb9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/fixtures/node-force-builtin-esm/function.js
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+import console from 'node:console'
+
+export const handler = () => {
+  console.log('hello world')
+}
diff --git a/tests/main.js b/tests/main.js
index cfe82ae31..372e0482a 100644
--- a/tests/main.js
+++ b/tests/main.js
@@ -2251,7 +2251,7 @@ testMany(
 )
 
 testMany(
-  'Handles built-in modules imported with the `node:` prefix',
+  'Handles built-in modules required with the `node:` prefix',
   ['bundler_default', 'bundler_default_nft', 'bundler_nft', 'bundler_esbuild', 'bundler_esbuild_zisi'],
   async (options, t) => {
     t.plan(3)
@@ -2279,6 +2279,16 @@ testMany(
   },
 )
 
+testMany(
+  'Handles built-in modules imported with the `node:` prefix',
+  ['bundler_default', 'bundler_default_nft', 'bundler_nft', 'bundler_esbuild', 'bundler_esbuild_zisi'],
+  async (options, t) => {
+    await zipFixture(t, 'node-force-builtin-esm', {
+      opts: options,
+    })
+  },
+)
+
 testMany(
   'Returns a `size` property with the size of each generated archive',
   ['bundler_default', 'bundler_esbuild', 'bundler_nft'],