diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-lambda-nodejs/parcel/Dockerfile b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-lambda-nodejs/parcel/Dockerfile
index 51f1c720c247e..e73b56d4fab04 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-lambda-nodejs/parcel/Dockerfile
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-lambda-nodejs/parcel/Dockerfile
@@ -3,12 +3,6 @@
 ARG IMAGE=lambci/lambda:build-nodejs12.x
 FROM $IMAGE
 
-# Ensure npm cache is not owned by root because the image will not run
-# as root and can potentially run `npm install`.
-RUN mkdir /npm-cache && \
-    chown -R 1000:1000 /npm-cache && \
-    npm config --global set cache /npm-cache
-
 # Install yarn
 RUN npm install --global yarn
 
@@ -17,4 +11,12 @@ RUN npm install --global yarn
 ARG PARCEL_VERSION=2.0.0-beta.1
 RUN cd / && npm install parcel@$PARCEL_VERSION
 
+# Ensure all users can write to npm cache
+RUN mkdir /tmp/npm-cache && \
+    chmod -R 777 /tmp/npm-cache && \
+    npm config --global set cache /tmp/npm-cache
+
+# Disable npm update notifications
+RUN npm config --global set update-notifier false
+
 CMD [ "parcel" ]
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-lambda-nodejs/test/docker.test.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-lambda-nodejs/test/docker.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..82ee940615a89
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-lambda-nodejs/test/docker.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+import { spawnSync } from 'child_process';
+import * as path from 'path';
+
+beforeAll(() => {
+  spawnSync('docker', ['build', '-t', 'parcel', path.join(__dirname, '../parcel')]);
+});
+
+test('parcel is available', async () => {
+  const proc = spawnSync('docker', [
+    'run', 'parcel',
+    'sh', '-c',
+    '$(node -p "require.resolve(\'parcel\')") --version',
+  ]);
+  expect(proc.status).toEqual(0);
+});
+
+test('can npm install with non root user', async () => {
+  const proc = spawnSync('docker', [
+    'run', '-u', '1000:1000',
+    'parcel',
+    'sh', '-c', [
+      'mkdir /tmp/test',
+      'cd /tmp/test',
+      'npm i constructs',
+    ].join(' && ')]);
+  expect(proc.status).toEqual(0);
+});
+
+test('can yarn install with non root user', async () => {
+  const proc = spawnSync('docker', [
+    'run', '-u', '500:500',
+    'parcel',
+    'sh', '-c', [
+      'mkdir /tmp/test',
+      'cd /tmp/test',
+      'yarn add constructs',
+    ].join(' && ')]);
+  expect(proc.status).toEqual(0);
+});