diff --git a/packages/vite-node/src/client.ts b/packages/vite-node/src/client.ts
index 50c058328a5c..c351b4ecffff 100644
--- a/packages/vite-node/src/client.ts
+++ b/packages/vite-node/src/client.ts
@@ -180,11 +180,12 @@ export class ViteNodeRunner {
     const promise = this.directRequest(id, fsPath, callstack)
     Object.assign(mod, { promise, evaluated: false })
 
-    promise.finally(() => {
+    try {
+      return await promise
+    }
+    finally {
       mod.evaluated = true
-    })
-
-    return await promise
+    }
   }
 
   /** @internal */
@@ -272,7 +273,7 @@ export class ViteNodeRunner {
       throw new Error(`[vite-node] Failed to load ${id}`)
 
     const file = cleanUrl(resolvedId || fsPath)
-    // console.log('file', file)
+
     // disambiguate the `<UNIT>:/` on windows: see nodejs/node#31710
     const url = pathToFileURL(file).href
     const meta = { url }
diff --git a/test/core/test/imports.test.ts b/test/core/test/imports.test.ts
index 389e0d869093..f803eb01a7a0 100644
--- a/test/core/test/imports.test.ts
+++ b/test/core/test/imports.test.ts
@@ -53,3 +53,11 @@ test('dynamic import has null prototype', async () => {
 
   expect(Object.getPrototypeOf(stringTimeoutMod)).toBe(null)
 })
+
+test('dynamic import throws an error', async () => {
+  const path = './some-unknown-path'
+  const imported = import(path)
+  await expect(imported).rejects.toThrowError(/Failed to load/)
+  // @ts-expect-error path does not exist
+  await expect(() => import('./some-unknown-path')).rejects.toThrowError(/Failed to load/)
+})