diff --git a/packages/nx/src/project-graph/utils/normalize-project-nodes.ts b/packages/nx/src/project-graph/utils/normalize-project-nodes.ts
index 828aee0b6e09f..9ca4b67fe09fd 100644
--- a/packages/nx/src/project-graph/utils/normalize-project-nodes.ts
+++ b/packages/nx/src/project-graph/utils/normalize-project-nodes.ts
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ export async function normalizeProjectNodes(
       partialProjectGraphNodes
     );
 
-    p.targets = normalizeProjectTargets(p, key);
+    p.targets ??= {};
 
     // TODO: remove in v16
     const projectType =
@@ -80,25 +80,6 @@ export async function normalizeProjectNodes(
   });
 }
 
-/**
- * Apply target defaults and normalization
- */
-export function normalizeProjectTargets(
-  project: ProjectConfiguration,
-  projectName: string
-): Record<string, TargetConfiguration> {
-  // Any node on the graph will have a targets object, it just may be empty
-  const targets = project.targets ?? {};
-
-  for (const target in targets) {
-    if (!targets[target].command && !targets[target].executor) {
-      delete targets[target];
-      continue;
-    }
-  }
-  return targets;
-}
-
 export function normalizeImplicitDependencies(
   source: string,
   implicitDependencies: ProjectConfiguration['implicitDependencies'],
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 ded545b3a22a4..8fe55f76c5661 100644
--- a/packages/nx/src/project-graph/utils/project-configuration-utils.ts
+++ b/packages/nx/src/project-graph/utils/project-configuration-utils.ts
@@ -641,10 +641,21 @@ function validateAndNormalizeProjectRootMap(
       );
 
       if (
+        // If the target has no executor or command, it doesn't do anything
         !project.targets[targetName].executor &&
         !project.targets[targetName].command
       ) {
-        delete project.targets[targetName];
+        // But it may have dependencies that do something
+        if (
+          project.targets[targetName].dependsOn &&
+          project.targets[targetName].dependsOn.length > 0
+        ) {
+          project.targets[targetName].executor = 'nx:noop';
+        } else {
+          // If it does nothing, and has no depenencies,
+          // we can remove it.
+          delete project.targets[targetName];
+        }
       }
     }
   }