diff --git a/packages/nuxt/src/core/nitro.ts b/packages/nuxt/src/core/nitro.ts
index 7c13f7e848..9528d734e6 100644
--- a/packages/nuxt/src/core/nitro.ts
+++ b/packages/nuxt/src/core/nitro.ts
@@ -92,7 +92,9 @@ export async function initNitro (nuxt: Nuxt & { _nitro?: Nitro }) {
       layer => resolve(layer.config.srcDir, 'app.config')
     ),
     typescript: {
-      generateTsConfig: false
+      strict: true,
+      generateTsConfig: true,
+      tsconfigPath: 'tsconfig.server.json'
     },
     publicAssets: [
       nuxt.options.dev
diff --git a/test/fixtures/basic/server/api/useAsyncData/count.ts b/test/fixtures/basic/server/api/useAsyncData/count.ts
index 8cdb1c14aa..b529bb034c 100644
--- a/test/fixtures/basic/server/api/useAsyncData/count.ts
+++ b/test/fixtures/basic/server/api/useAsyncData/count.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
 let counter = 0
 
+const test = () => () => {
+  // TODO: useNuxtApp should be undefined when type-testing a nitro route
+  useNuxtApp()
+}
+test()
+
 export default defineEventHandler(() => ({ count: counter++ }))
diff --git a/test/fixtures/basic/server/tsconfig.json b/test/fixtures/basic/server/tsconfig.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b9ed69c19e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/basic/server/tsconfig.json
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+  "extends": "../.nuxt/tsconfig.server.json"
+}