diff --git a/packages/core/src/package.ts b/packages/core/src/package.ts
index d50afe980..0eb942cfe 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/package.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/package.ts
@@ -168,15 +168,30 @@ export default class Package {
   @Memoize()
   get dependencies(): Package[] {
     let names = flatMap(this.dependencyKeys, key => Object.keys(this.packageJSON[key] || {}));
-    return names.map(name => {
-      if (this.nonResolvableDeps) {
-        let dep = this.nonResolvableDeps.get(name);
-        if (dep) {
-          return dep;
+    return names
+      .map(name => {
+        if (this.nonResolvableDeps) {
+          let dep = this.nonResolvableDeps.get(name);
+          if (dep) {
+            return dep;
+          }
         }
-      }
-      return this.packageCache.resolve(name, this);
-    });
+        try {
+          return this.packageCache.resolve(name, this);
+        } catch (error) {
+          // if the package was not found do not error out here. this is relevant
+          // for the case where a package might be an optional peerDependency and we dont
+          // want to error if it was not found. Additionally, erroring here is "far" away
+          // from the actual logical failure point and so not failing here will provide a better
+          // error message down the line
+          if (error.code === 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND') {
+            return false;
+          }
+
+          throw error;
+        }
+      })
+      .filter(Boolean) as Package[];
   }
 
   hasDependency(name: string): boolean {
diff --git a/packages/core/tests/package.test.ts b/packages/core/tests/package.test.ts
index 3e436290d..a3a0c04e5 100644
--- a/packages/core/tests/package.test.ts
+++ b/packages/core/tests/package.test.ts
@@ -71,4 +71,43 @@ describe('package', () => {
       expect(nonResolvableDeps.get('good')).toBeTruthy();
     }
   });
+
+  test('it does not throw if the peerDependency is not resolvable', () => {
+    let { name: tmpLocation } = tmp.dirSync();
+    let projectJSON = {
+      'package.json': JSON.stringify({
+        name: 'foobar-web',
+        dependencies: {
+          good: '*',
+        },
+        peerDependencies: {
+          bad: '*',
+          'valid-peer': '*',
+        },
+      }),
+      node_modules: {
+        good: {
+          'package.json': JSON.stringify({
+            name: 'good',
+          }),
+        },
+        'valid-peer': {
+          'package.json': JSON.stringify({
+            name: 'valid-peer',
+          }),
+        },
+      },
+    };
+
+    fixturify.writeSync(tmpLocation, projectJSON);
+
+    let packageCache = new PackageCache();
+    let packageInstance = new Package(tmpLocation, packageCache);
+    let dependencies = packageInstance.dependencies;
+
+    expect(dependencies.length).toBe(2);
+    expect(dependencies.map(dep => dep.name)).toContain('good');
+    expect(dependencies.map(dep => dep.name)).toContain('valid-peer');
+    expect(dependencies.map(dep => dep.name)).not.toContain('bad');
+  });
 });