diff --git a/.changeset/proud-beds-clean.md b/.changeset/proud-beds-clean.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f957ce8a25
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/proud-beds-clean.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"@pnpm/plugin-commands-publishing": patch
+---
+
+`pnpm publish -r --dry-run` should not publish anything to the registry.
diff --git a/packages/plugin-commands-publishing/src/recursivePublish.ts b/packages/plugin-commands-publishing/src/recursivePublish.ts
index e493878616..d7aa03e987 100644
--- a/packages/plugin-commands-publishing/src/recursivePublish.ts
+++ b/packages/plugin-commands-publishing/src/recursivePublish.ts
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ Partial<Pick<Config,
   | 'tag'
   | 'ca'
   | 'cert'
+  | 'dryRun'
   | 'extraBinPaths'
   | 'fetchRetries'
   | 'fetchRetryFactor'
@@ -73,7 +74,13 @@ export default async function (
     }, pkg.manifest.name, pkg.manifest.version))
   })
   const publishedPkgDirs = new Set(pkgsToPublish.map(({ dir }) => dir))
-  const access = opts.cliOptions['access'] ? ['--access', opts.cliOptions['access']] : []
+  const appendedArgs = []
+  if (opts.cliOptions['access']) {
+    appendedArgs.push(`--access=${opts.cliOptions['access']}`)
+  }
+  if (opts.dryRun) {
+    appendedArgs.push('--dry-run')
+  }
   const chunks = sortPackages(opts.selectedProjectsGraph)
   for (const chunk of chunks) {
     for (const pkgDir of chunk) {
@@ -89,7 +96,7 @@ export default async function (
             'pnpm-temp',
             '--registry',
             pickRegistryForPackage(opts.registries, pkg.manifest.name!),
-            ...access,
+            ...appendedArgs,
           ],
         },
         gitChecks: false,
diff --git a/packages/plugin-commands-publishing/test/recursivePublish.ts b/packages/plugin-commands-publishing/test/recursivePublish.ts
index 23b1846851..a39499386e 100644
--- a/packages/plugin-commands-publishing/test/recursivePublish.ts
+++ b/packages/plugin-commands-publishing/test/recursivePublish.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { readProjects } from '@pnpm/filter-workspace-packages'
 import { publish } from '@pnpm/plugin-commands-publishing'
 import { preparePackages } from '@pnpm/prepare'
 import { REGISTRY_MOCK_PORT } from '@pnpm/registry-mock'
+import crossSpawn = require('cross-spawn')
 import execa = require('execa')
 import fs = require('mz/fs')
 import test = require('tape')
@@ -66,6 +67,24 @@ test('recursive publish', async (t) => {
 
   await fs.writeFile('.npmrc', CREDENTIALS, 'utf8')
 
+  t.comment('packages not published, when dryRun is true')
+  await publish.handler({
+    ...DEFAULT_OPTS,
+    ...await readProjects(process.cwd(), []),
+    dir: process.cwd(),
+    dryRun: true,
+    recursive: true,
+  }, [])
+
+  {
+    const { status } = crossSpawn.sync('npm', ['view', pkg1.name, 'versions', '--registry', `http://localhost:${REGISTRY_MOCK_PORT}`, '--json'])
+    t.deepEqual(status, 1)
+  }
+  {
+    const { status } = crossSpawn.sync('npm', ['view', pkg2.name, 'versions', '--registry', `http://localhost:${REGISTRY_MOCK_PORT}`, '--json'])
+    t.deepEqual(status, 1)
+  }
+
   await publish.handler({
     ...DEFAULT_OPTS,
     ...await readProjects(process.cwd(), []),