diff --git a/xarray/namedarray/utils.py b/xarray/namedarray/utils.py
index 3097cd820a0..339a5037832 100644
--- a/xarray/namedarray/utils.py
+++ b/xarray/namedarray/utils.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import sys
 import warnings
 from collections.abc import Hashable, Iterable, Iterator, Mapping
+from functools import lru_cache
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any, TypeVar, cast
 
 import numpy as np
@@ -32,6 +33,7 @@
 T = TypeVar("T")
 
 
+@lru_cache
 def module_available(module: str) -> bool:
     """Checks whether a module is installed without importing it.