diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/deno/fetch-deno-deps/default.nix b/pkgs/build-support/deno/fetch-deno-deps/default.nix
index d0afad44da86..a676deeb6d92 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/deno/fetch-deno-deps/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/deno/fetch-deno-deps/default.nix
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@
 
                 # sometimes a .deno dir is slipped into a node_modules package
                 # it's unclear why. but it can just be deleted
-                find -L ./node_modules/* -name ".deno" -type d | xargs rm -rf
+                find -L ./node_modules -name ".deno" -type d | sort -r | head -n-1 | xargs rm -rf
               fi
 
               rm -f "$DENO_DIR"/dep_analysis_cache_v2-shm