diff --git a/e2e-tests/development-runtime/plugins/gatsby-node-typegen/gatsby-node.ts b/e2e-tests/development-runtime/plugins/gatsby-node-typegen/gatsby-node.ts
index 053527f63e331..0f86897e582e4 100644
--- a/e2e-tests/development-runtime/plugins/gatsby-node-typegen/gatsby-node.ts
+++ b/e2e-tests/development-runtime/plugins/gatsby-node-typegen/gatsby-node.ts
@@ -1,11 +1,20 @@
 import { GatsbyNode } from "gatsby"
 
-export const createSchemaCustomization: GatsbyNode["createSchemaCustomization"] = ({ actions }) => {
+// This isn't strictly relevant for typegen but I'm lazy...
+// By adding the schema here and re-using it inside createSchemaCustomization we can make sure that Gatsby correctly reads the pluginOptionsSchema from .ts files. If it wouldn't work the checkMePleaseKey would be undefined and the e2e test would fail
+export const pluginOptionsSchema: GatsbyNode["pluginOptionsSchema"] = ({ Joi }) => {
+  return Joi.object({
+    checkMePleaseString: Joi.string().default(`hello`)
+  })
+}
+
+export const createSchemaCustomization: GatsbyNode["createSchemaCustomization"] = ({ actions }, pluginOptions) => {
   const { createTypes } = actions
+  const checkMePleaseKey = pluginOptions?.checkMePleaseString
 
   createTypes(`
     type CheckMePlease {
-      hello: String!
+      ${checkMePleaseKey}: String!
     }
   `)
 }
diff --git a/packages/gatsby/src/bootstrap/load-plugins/__tests__/load-plugins.ts b/packages/gatsby/src/bootstrap/load-plugins/__tests__/load-plugins.ts
index 535b8bcccfb7d..7cae03721ecc6 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby/src/bootstrap/load-plugins/__tests__/load-plugins.ts
+++ b/packages/gatsby/src/bootstrap/load-plugins/__tests__/load-plugins.ts
@@ -30,9 +30,13 @@ jest.mock(`gatsby-cli/lib/reporter`, () => {
 // After switching to import to support esm, point file path resolution to the real compiled JS files in dist instead.
 jest.mock(`../../resolve-js-file-path`, () => {
   return {
-    resolveJSFilepath: jest.fn(
-      ({ filePath }) => `${filePath.replace(`src`, `dist`)}.js`
-    ),
+    resolveJSFilepath: jest.fn(({ filePath }: { filePath: string }) => {
+      if (filePath.includes(`load-plugins/__tests__/fixtures`)) {
+        return filePath
+      }
+
+      return `${filePath.replace(`src`, `dist`)}.js`
+    }),
     maybeAddFileProtocol: jest.fn(val => val),
   }
 })
diff --git a/packages/gatsby/src/bootstrap/load-plugins/validate.ts b/packages/gatsby/src/bootstrap/load-plugins/validate.ts
index 2be49f41cd664..e91a963548bee 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby/src/bootstrap/load-plugins/validate.ts
+++ b/packages/gatsby/src/bootstrap/load-plugins/validate.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import {
 } from "./types"
 import { resolvePlugin } from "./resolve-plugin"
 import { preferDefault } from "../prefer-default"
+import { importGatsbyPlugin } from "../../utils/import-gatsby-plugin"
 
 interface IApi {
   version?: string
@@ -213,7 +214,7 @@ async function validatePluginsOptions(
       let gatsbyNode
       try {
         const resolvedPlugin = resolvePlugin(plugin, rootDir)
-        gatsbyNode = require(`${resolvedPlugin.resolve}/gatsby-node`)
+        gatsbyNode = await importGatsbyPlugin(resolvedPlugin, `gatsby-node`)
       } catch (err) {
         gatsbyNode = {}
       }