diff --git a/packages/nx/src/generators/utils/project-configuration.ts b/packages/nx/src/generators/utils/project-configuration.ts
index f9e173d7596c8..0efb1d3bc0f10 100644
--- a/packages/nx/src/generators/utils/project-configuration.ts
+++ b/packages/nx/src/generators/utils/project-configuration.ts
@@ -211,7 +211,13 @@ function readAndCombineAllProjectConfigurations(tree: Tree): {
     if (basename(projectFile) === 'project.json') {
       const json = readJson(tree, projectFile);
       const config = buildProjectFromProjectJson(json, projectFile);
-      mergeProjectConfigurationIntoRootMap(rootMap, config);
+      mergeProjectConfigurationIntoRootMap(
+        rootMap,
+        config,
+        undefined,
+        undefined,
+        true
+      );
     } else if (basename(projectFile) === 'package.json') {
       const packageJson = readJson<PackageJson>(tree, projectFile);
       const config = buildProjectConfigurationFromPackageJson(
@@ -227,7 +233,10 @@ function readAndCombineAllProjectConfigurations(tree: Tree): {
           {
             name: config.name,
             root: config.root,
-          }
+          },
+          undefined,
+          undefined,
+          true
         );
       }
     }
diff --git a/packages/nx/src/project-graph/utils/normalize-project-nodes.spec.ts b/packages/nx/src/project-graph/utils/normalize-project-nodes.spec.ts
index a34162a266b6b..86d4c3f8d0157 100644
--- a/packages/nx/src/project-graph/utils/normalize-project-nodes.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/nx/src/project-graph/utils/normalize-project-nodes.spec.ts
@@ -80,28 +80,6 @@ describe('workspace-projects', () => {
   });
 
   describe('normalizeTargets', () => {
-    it('should convert command property to run-commands executor', () => {
-      expect(
-        normalizeProjectTargets(
-          {
-            root: 'my/project',
-            targets: {
-              build: {
-                command: 'echo',
-              },
-            },
-          },
-          'build'
-        ).build
-      ).toEqual({
-        executor: 'nx:run-commands',
-        configurations: {},
-        options: {
-          command: 'echo',
-        },
-      });
-    });
-
     it('should support {projectRoot}, {workspaceRoot}, and {projectName} tokens', () => {
       expect(
         normalizeProjectTargets(
diff --git a/packages/nx/src/project-graph/utils/project-configuration-utils.spec.ts b/packages/nx/src/project-graph/utils/project-configuration-utils.spec.ts
index 43fe3ddcf2f76..53749382762e0 100644
--- a/packages/nx/src/project-graph/utils/project-configuration-utils.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/nx/src/project-graph/utils/project-configuration-utils.spec.ts
@@ -433,7 +433,10 @@ describe('project-configuration-utils', () => {
           "root": "libs/lib-a",
           "targets": {
             "build": {
-              "command": "tsc",
+              "executor": "nx:run-commands",
+              "options": {
+                "command": "tsc",
+              },
             },
             "echo": {
               "command": "echo lib-a",
diff --git a/packages/nx/src/project-graph/utils/project-configuration-utils.ts b/packages/nx/src/project-graph/utils/project-configuration-utils.ts
index 79e13d2320dc7..63bea10bae7e7 100644
--- a/packages/nx/src/project-graph/utils/project-configuration-utils.ts
+++ b/packages/nx/src/project-graph/utils/project-configuration-utils.ts
@@ -28,7 +28,10 @@ export function mergeProjectConfigurationIntoRootMap(
     >;
   },
   configurationSourceMaps?: ConfigurationSourceMaps,
-  sourceInformation?: SourceInformation
+  sourceInformation?: SourceInformation,
+  // This function is used when reading project configuration
+  // in generators, where we don't want to do this.
+  skipCommandNormalization?: boolean
 ): void {
   if (configurationSourceMaps && !configurationSourceMaps[project.root]) {
     configurationSourceMaps[project.root] = {};
@@ -158,11 +161,13 @@ export function mergeProjectConfigurationIntoRootMap(
 
       updatedProjectConfiguration.targets[targetName] =
         mergeTargetConfigurations(
-          resolveCommandSyntacticSugar(target, project.root),
+          skipCommandNormalization
+            ? target
+            : resolveCommandSyntacticSugar(target, project.root),
           matchingProject.targets?.[targetName],
           sourceMap,
           sourceInformation,
-          `targets.${target}`
+          `targets.${targetName}`
         );
     }
   }