diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/css.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/css.ts
index 1a62bf7f028d13..6cc6f1a5ef5a20 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/css.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/css.ts
@@ -311,15 +311,15 @@ export function cssPostPlugin(config: ResolvedConfig): Plugin {
       // record css
       if (!inlined) {
         styles.set(id, css)
-      } else {
-        css = await minifyCSS(css, config)
       }
 
       return {
         code:
           modulesCode ||
           (usedRE.test(id)
-            ? `export default ${JSON.stringify(css)}`
+            ? `export default ${JSON.stringify(
+              inlined ? await minifyCSS(css, config) : css
+            )}`
             : `export default ''`),
         map: { mappings: '' },
         // avoid the css module from being tree-shaken so that we can retrieve