diff --git a/lib/nuxt.js b/lib/nuxt.js
index a049290ee9..660cbc48c5 100644
--- a/lib/nuxt.js
+++ b/lib/nuxt.js
@@ -65,6 +65,11 @@ class Nuxt {
     if (fs.existsSync(join(this.srcDir, 'middleware'))) {
       this.options.middleware = true
     }
+    // If app.html is defined, set the template path to the user template
+    this.options.appTemplatePath = resolve(__dirname, 'views/app.template.html')
+    if (fs.existsSync(join(this.srcDir, 'app.html'))) {
+      this.options.appTemplatePath = join(this.srcDir, 'app.html')
+    }
     // renderer used by Vue.js (via createBundleRenderer)
     this.renderer = null
     // For serving static/ files to /
diff --git a/lib/webpack/client.config.js b/lib/webpack/client.config.js
index dffff99230..5df452bc07 100644
--- a/lib/webpack/client.config.js
+++ b/lib/webpack/client.config.js
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ export default function () {
     }),
     // Generate output HTML
     new HTMLPlugin({
-      template: resolve(__dirname, 'views/app.template.html')
+      template: this.options.appTemplatePath
     }),
     // Add defer to scripts
     new ScriptExtHtmlWebpackPlugin({