diff --git a/modules/config/use-package/init.el b/modules/config/use-package/init.el
index 78c01a773..d3cecdd42 100644
--- a/modules/config/use-package/init.el
+++ b/modules/config/use-package/init.el
@@ -24,14 +24,14 @@
 ;; packages with package.el, by copying over old `use-package' declarations with
 ;; an :ensure t property. Doom doesn't use package.el, so this will throw an
 ;; error that will confuse beginners, so we disable `:ensure'.
-(setq use-package-ensure-function
-      (lambda (name &rest _)
-        (message "Ignoring ':ensure t' in '%s' config" name)))
-;; ...On the other hand, if the user has loaded `package', then we should assume
-;; they know what they're doing and restore the old behavior:
-(add-transient-hook! 'package-initialize
-  (when (eq use-package-ensure-function #'ignore)
-    (setq use-package-ensure-function #'use-package-ensure-elpa)))
+(defun +use-package--ignore-ensure-maybe-fn (name &rest args)
+  ;; ...On the other hand, if the user has loaded `package', then we should
+  ;; assume they know what they're doing and restore the old behavior:
+  (if (bound-and-true-p package--initialized)
+      (apply #'use-package-ensure-elpa name args)
+    (doom-log "Ignoring ':ensure t' in '%s' config" name)
+    (not (memq name doom-disabled-packages))))
+(setq use-package-ensure-function #'+use-package--ignore-ensure-maybe-fn)
 
 (with-eval-after-load 'use-package-core
   ;; `use-package' adds syntax highlighting for the `use-package' macro, but