diff --git a/e2e/nx-plugin/src/nx-plugin.test.ts b/e2e/nx-plugin/src/nx-plugin.test.ts
index 88a6b7941b..6378d8abc5 100644
--- a/e2e/nx-plugin/src/nx-plugin.test.ts
+++ b/e2e/nx-plugin/src/nx-plugin.test.ts
@@ -15,7 +15,11 @@ import {
   readFile,
   removeFile,
   cleanupProject,
+  runCommand,
+  getPackageManagerCommand,
+  updateJson,
 } from '@nrwl/e2e/utils';
+import type { PackageJson } from 'nx/src/utils/package-json';
 
 import { ASYNC_GENERATOR_EXECUTOR_CONTENTS } from './nx-plugin.fixtures';
 
@@ -360,6 +364,30 @@ describe('Nx Plugin', () => {
       expect(() => checkFilesExist(`libs/${generatedProject}`)).not.toThrow();
       expect(() => runCLI(`execute ${generatedProject}`)).not.toThrow();
     });
+
+    it('should work with ts-node only', async () => {
+      const oldPackageJson: PackageJson = readJson('package.json');
+      updateJson<PackageJson>('package.json', (j) => {
+        delete j.dependencies['@swc-node/register'];
+        delete j.devDependencies['@swc-node/register'];
+        return j;
+      });
+      runCommand(getPackageManagerCommand().install);
+
+      const generator = uniq('generator');
+
+      expect(() => {
+        runCLI(
+          `generate @nrwl/nx-plugin:generator ${generator} --project=${plugin}`
+        );
+
+        runCLI(
+          `generate @${npmScope}/${plugin}:${generator} --name ${uniq('test')}`
+        );
+      }).not.toThrow();
+      updateFile('package.json', JSON.stringify(oldPackageJson, null, 2));
+      runCommand(getPackageManagerCommand().install);
+    });
   });
 
   describe('--directory', () => {
diff --git a/packages/nx/src/utils/register.spec.ts b/packages/nx/src/utils/register.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7ba3b637b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/nx/src/utils/register.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+import { ModuleKind, ScriptTarget } from 'typescript';
+import { getTsNodeCompilerOptions } from './register';
+
+describe('getTsNodeCompilerOptions', () => {
+  it('should replace enum value with enum key for module', () => {
+    expect(
+      getTsNodeCompilerOptions({
+        module: ModuleKind.CommonJS,
+      }).module
+    ).toEqual('CommonJS');
+  });
+
+  it('should replace enum value with enum key for target', () => {
+    expect(
+      getTsNodeCompilerOptions({
+        target: ScriptTarget.ES2020,
+      }).target
+    ).toEqual('ES2020');
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/nx/src/utils/register.ts b/packages/nx/src/utils/register.ts
index cf4fdccc4a..5739d3a9dd 100644
--- a/packages/nx/src/utils/register.ts
+++ b/packages/nx/src/utils/register.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import { logger, NX_PREFIX, stripIndent } from './logger';
 
 const swcNodeInstalled = packageIsInstalled('@swc-node/register');
 const tsNodeInstalled = packageIsInstalled('ts-node/register');
+let ts: typeof import('typescript');
 
 /**
  * Optionally, if swc-node and tsconfig-paths are available in the current workspace, apply the require
@@ -63,7 +64,7 @@ export function registerTranspiler(
       registerTranspiler = () => {
         const service = register({
           transpileOnly: true,
-          compilerOptions,
+          compilerOptions: getTsNodeCompilerOptions(compilerOptions),
         });
         // Don't warn if a faster transpiler is enabled
         if (!service.options.transpiler && !service.options.swc) {
@@ -121,8 +122,10 @@ function readCompilerOptions(tsConfigPath): CompilerOptions {
 }
 
 function readCompilerOptionsWithTypescript(tsConfigPath) {
-  const { readConfigFile, parseJsonConfigFileContent, sys } =
-    require('typescript') as typeof import('typescript');
+  if (!ts) {
+    ts = require('typescript');
+  }
+  const { readConfigFile, parseJsonConfigFileContent, sys } = ts;
   const jsonContent = readConfigFile(tsConfigPath, sys.readFile);
   const { options } = parseJsonConfigFileContent(
     jsonContent,
@@ -164,3 +167,44 @@ function packageIsInstalled(m: string) {
     return false;
   }
 }
+
+/**
+ * ts-node requires string values for enum based typescript options.
+ * `register`'s signature just types the field as `object`, so we
+ * unfortunately do not get any kind of type safety on this.
+ */
+export function getTsNodeCompilerOptions(compilerOptions: CompilerOptions) {
+  if (!ts) {
+    ts = require('typescript');
+  }
+
+  const flagMap: Partial<
+    Record<keyof RemoveIndex<CompilerOptions>, keyof typeof ts>
+  > = {
+    module: 'ModuleKind',
+    target: 'ScriptTarget',
+    moduleDetection: 'ModuleDetectionKind',
+    newLine: 'NewLineKind',
+    moduleResolution: 'ModuleResolutionKind',
+    importsNotUsedAsValues: 'ImportsNotUsedAsValues',
+  };
+
+  const result = { ...compilerOptions };
+
+  for (const flag in flagMap) {
+    if (compilerOptions[flag]) {
+      result[flag] = ts[flagMap[flag]][compilerOptions[flag]];
+    }
+  }
+
+  return result;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Index keys allow empty objects, where as "real" keys
+ * require a value. Thus, this filters out index keys
+ * See: https://stackoverflow.com/a/68261113/3662471
+ */
+type RemoveIndex<T> = {
+  [K in keyof T as {} extends Record<K, 1> ? never : K]: T[K];
+};