diff --git a/lib/manager/npm/post-update/index.ts b/lib/manager/npm/post-update/index.ts
index d51800d9b35f7d3a2c0c31f1c3a364997e453222..62305f5d49d6839c31c6a66ea342b2de3c77c74a 100644
--- a/lib/manager/npm/post-update/index.ts
+++ b/lib/manager/npm/post-update/index.ts
@@ -144,6 +144,9 @@ export async function writeExistingFiles(
       } catch (err) /* istanbul ignore next */ {
         logger.warn({ npmrcFilename, err }, 'Error writing .npmrc');
       }
+    } else if (config.ignoreNpmrcFile) {
+      logger.debug('Removing ignored .npmrc file before artifact generation');
+      await remove(npmrcFilename);
     }
     if (packageFile.yarnrc) {
       logger.debug(`Writing .yarnrc to ${basedir}`);