diff --git a/src/node_dotenv.cc b/src/node_dotenv.cc
index ae18a6576dd232..249a5c991bd091 100644
--- a/src/node_dotenv.cc
+++ b/src/node_dotenv.cc
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ void Dotenv::SetEnvironment(node::Environment* env) {
 
     auto existing = env->env_vars()->Get(key.data());
 
-    if (existing.IsNothing()) {
+    if (existing.IsNothing() || strcmp(key.data(), "NODE_OPTIONS") == 0) {
       env->env_vars()->Set(
           isolate,
           v8::String::NewFromUtf8(
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-dotenv-edge-cases.js b/test/parallel/test-dotenv-edge-cases.js
index 9b603f8e79eb6c..908cbb3bab362a 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-dotenv-edge-cases.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-dotenv-edge-cases.js
@@ -47,4 +47,17 @@ describe('.env supports edge cases', () => {
     assert.strictEqual(child.stderr, '');
     assert.strictEqual(child.code, 0);
   });
+
+  it('should override NODE_OPTIONS', async () => {
+    const code = `
+      require('assert').strictEqual(process.env.NODE_OPTIONS, '--experimental-permission --allow-fs-read=*');
+    `.trim();
+    const child = await common.spawnPromisified(
+      process.execPath,
+      [ `--env-file=${relativePath}`, '--eval', code ],
+      { cwd: __dirname, env: { NODE_OPTIONS: '--experimental-permission --allow-worker' } },
+    );
+    assert.strictEqual(child.stderr, '');
+    assert.strictEqual(child.code, 0);
+  });
 });