diff --git a/tools/cli/dev-bundle-helpers.js b/tools/cli/dev-bundle-helpers.js
index 0a64995b3d..eafcffe932 100644
--- a/tools/cli/dev-bundle-helpers.js
+++ b/tools/cli/dev-bundle-helpers.js
@@ -1,20 +1,25 @@
-import { pathJoin, getDevBundle } from '../fs/files';
-import { installNpmModule, moduleDoesResolve } from '../isobuild/meteor-npm.js';
+import { pathJoin, getDevBundle, statOrNull } from '../fs/files';
+import { installNpmModule } from '../isobuild/meteor-npm.js';
 
 export function ensureDependencies(deps) {
+  const devBundleLib = pathJoin(getDevBundle(), 'lib');
+  const devBundleNodeModules = pathJoin(devBundleLib, 'node_modules');
+
   // Check if each of the requested dependencies resolves, if not
   // mark them for installation.
   const needToInstall = Object.create(null);
   Object.keys(deps).forEach(dep => {
-    if (!moduleDoesResolve(dep)) {
+    const pkgDir = pathJoin(devBundleNodeModules, dep);
+    const pkgStat = statOrNull(pkgDir);
+    const alreadyInstalled = pkgStat && pkgStat.isDirectory();
+    if (!alreadyInstalled) {
       const versionToInstall = deps[dep];
       needToInstall[dep] = versionToInstall;
     }
   });
 
-  const devBundleLib = pathJoin(getDevBundle(), 'lib');
-
   // Install each of the requested modules.
-  Object.keys(needToInstall)
-    .forEach(dep => installNpmModule(dep, needToInstall[dep], devBundleLib));
+  Object.keys(needToInstall).forEach(dep => {
+    installNpmModule(dep, needToInstall[dep], devBundleLib);
+  });
 }
diff --git a/tools/isobuild/meteor-npm.js b/tools/isobuild/meteor-npm.js
index 30e03cbc82..33ab0ea3b6 100644
--- a/tools/isobuild/meteor-npm.js
+++ b/tools/isobuild/meteor-npm.js
@@ -1053,20 +1053,6 @@ var getShrinkwrappedDependencies = function (dir) {
   return treeToDependencies(getShrinkwrappedDependenciesTree(dir));
 };
 
-const moduleDoesResolve = meteorNpm.moduleDoesResolve = (dep) => {
-  try {
-    require.resolve(dep);
-  } catch (e) {
-    if (e.code !== 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND') {
-      throw e;
-    }
-
-    return false;
-  }
-
-  return true;
-};
-
 const installNpmModule = meteorNpm.installNpmModule = (name, version, dir) => {
   const installArg = utils.isNpmUrl(version)
     ? version