diff --git a/packages/nx/src/config/workspaces.ts b/packages/nx/src/config/workspaces.ts
index 541905d88d35e..713d21ad60a15 100644
--- a/packages/nx/src/config/workspaces.ts
+++ b/packages/nx/src/config/workspaces.ts
@@ -33,7 +33,8 @@ import { joinPathFragments } from '../utils/path';
 export function workspaceConfigName(
   root: string
 ): 'angular.json' | 'workspace.json' | null {
-  if (existsSync(path.join(root, 'angular.json'))) {
+  // If a workspace doesn't have `@nrwl/angular` it's likely they do not want projects from `angular.json` to be considered by Nx.
+  if (existsSync(path.join(root, 'angular.json')) && isNrwlAngularInstalled()) {
     return 'angular.json';
   } else if (existsSync(path.join(root, 'workspace.json'))) {
     return 'workspace.json';
@@ -431,6 +432,15 @@ function assertValidWorkspaceConfiguration(
   }
 }
 
+function isNrwlAngularInstalled() {
+  try {
+    require.resolve('@nrwl/angular');
+    return true;
+  } catch {
+    return false;
+  }
+}
+
 function findFullGeneratorName(
   name: string,
   generators: {
diff --git a/scripts/depcheck/missing.ts b/scripts/depcheck/missing.ts
index 24a19b46ec7b3..9db6da11adcae 100644
--- a/scripts/depcheck/missing.ts
+++ b/scripts/depcheck/missing.ts
@@ -124,6 +124,7 @@ const IGNORE_MATCHES_IN_PACKAGE = {
     '@angular-devkit/core',
     '@angular-devkit/architect',
     '@angular/cli',
+    '@nrwl/angular',
     'ts-node', // We *may* fall back on ts-node, but we want to encourage the use of @swc-node instead so we don't explicitly list ts-node as an optional dep
   ],
   web: [