diff --git a/packages/plugin-eslint/src/lib/nx/utils.ts b/packages/plugin-eslint/src/lib/nx/utils.ts
index 323949f1c..f4217333c 100644
--- a/packages/plugin-eslint/src/lib/nx/utils.ts
+++ b/packages/plugin-eslint/src/lib/nx/utils.ts
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ export function getLintFilePatterns(project: ProjectConfiguration): string[] {
     | { lintFilePatterns?: string | string[] }
     | undefined;
   return options?.lintFilePatterns == null
-    ? []
+    ? [project.root] // lintFilePatterns defaults to ["{projectRoot}"] - https://github.com/nrwl/nx/pull/20313
     : toArray(options.lintFilePatterns);
 }