diff --git a/.changeset/fix-prettier-not-installed-hang.md b/.changeset/fix-prettier-not-installed-hang.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9144053e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/fix-prettier-not-installed-hang.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"eslint-plugin-prettier": patch
+---
+
+fix: throw clear error when prettier is not installed instead of hanging
diff --git a/eslint-plugin-prettier.js b/eslint-plugin-prettier.js
index 7a6eceda..cc161ce6 100644
--- a/eslint-plugin-prettier.js
+++ b/eslint-plugin-prettier.js
@@ -211,6 +211,17 @@ const eslintPluginPrettier = {
           [sourceCode.ast.type](node) {
             if (!prettierFormat) {
               // Prettier is expensive to load, so only load it if needed.
+              try {
+                require.resolve('prettier');
+              } catch (error) {
+                if (error?.code !== 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND') {
+                  throw error;
+                }
+                throw new Error(
+                  'eslint-plugin-prettier requires "prettier" package to be installed. ' +
+                    'Please install it with: npm install -D prettier',
+                );
+              }
               prettierFormat = /** @type {PrettierFormat} */ (
                 require('synckit').createSyncFn(require.resolve('./worker.mjs'))
               );