diff --git a/packages/nuxt/src/app/components/nuxt-stubs.ts b/packages/nuxt/src/app/components/nuxt-stubs.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c2adc56412
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/nuxt/src/app/components/nuxt-stubs.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+import { createError } from '../composables/error'
+
+function renderStubMessage (name: string) {
+  throw createError({
+    fatal: true,
+    statusCode: 500,
+    statusMessage: `${name} is provided by @nuxt/image. Check your console to install it or run 'npx nuxi@latest module add @nuxt/image'`
+  })
+}
+
+export const NuxtImg = {
+  setup: () => renderStubMessage('<NuxtImg>')
+}
+
+export const NuxtPicture = {
+  setup: () => renderStubMessage('<NuxtPicture>')
+}
diff --git a/packages/nuxt/src/components/loader.ts b/packages/nuxt/src/components/loader.ts
index b1cea765c6..5e42223bb3 100644
--- a/packages/nuxt/src/components/loader.ts
+++ b/packages/nuxt/src/components/loader.ts
@@ -46,6 +46,11 @@ export const loaderPlugin = createUnplugin((options: LoaderOptions) => {
       s.replace(/(?<=[ (])_?resolveComponent\(\s*["'](lazy-|Lazy)?([^'"]*?)["'][\s,]*[^)]*\)/g, (full: string, lazy: string, name: string) => {
         const component = findComponent(components, name, options.mode)
         if (component) {
+          // @ts-expect-error TODO: refactor to nuxi
+          if (component._internal_install) {
+            // @ts-expect-error TODO: refactor to nuxi
+            import('../core/features').then(({ installNuxtModule }) => installNuxtModule(component._internal_install))
+          }
           let identifier = map.get(component) || `__nuxt_component_${num++}`
           map.set(component, identifier)
 
diff --git a/packages/nuxt/src/core/features.ts b/packages/nuxt/src/core/features.ts
index 8920ab2c4d..b23b67444f 100644
--- a/packages/nuxt/src/core/features.ts
+++ b/packages/nuxt/src/core/features.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { addDependency } from 'nypm'
 import { resolvePackageJSON } from 'pkg-types'
-import { logger } from '@nuxt/kit'
+import { logger, useNuxt } from '@nuxt/kit'
 import { isCI, provider } from 'std-env'
 
 const isStackblitz = provider === 'stackblitz'
@@ -11,10 +11,7 @@ export interface EnsurePackageInstalledOptions {
   prompt?: boolean
 }
 
-export async function ensurePackageInstalled (
-  name: string,
-  options: EnsurePackageInstalledOptions
-) {
+async function promptToInstall (name: string, installCommand: () => Promise<void>, options: EnsurePackageInstalledOptions) {
   if (await resolvePackageJSON(name, { url: options.searchPaths }).catch(() => null)) {
     return true
   }
@@ -39,10 +36,7 @@ export async function ensurePackageInstalled (
 
   logger.info(`Installing ${name}...`)
   try {
-    await addDependency(name, {
-      cwd: options.rootDir,
-      dev: true
-    })
+    await installCommand()
     logger.success(`Installed ${name}`)
     return true
   } catch (err) {
@@ -50,3 +44,22 @@ export async function ensurePackageInstalled (
     return false
   }
 }
+
+// TODO: refactor to Nuxi
+const installPrompts = new Set<string>()
+export function installNuxtModule (name: string, options?: EnsurePackageInstalledOptions) {
+  if (installPrompts.has(name)) { return }
+  installPrompts.add(name)
+  const nuxt = useNuxt()
+  return promptToInstall(name, async () => {
+    const { runCommand } = await import('nuxi')
+    await runCommand('module', ['add', name, '--cwd', nuxt.options.rootDir])
+  }, { rootDir: nuxt.options.rootDir, searchPaths: nuxt.options.modulesDir, ...options })
+}
+
+export function ensurePackageInstalled (name: string, options: EnsurePackageInstalledOptions) {
+  return promptToInstall(name, () => addDependency(name, {
+    cwd: options.rootDir,
+    dev: true
+  }), options)
+}
diff --git a/packages/nuxt/src/core/nuxt.ts b/packages/nuxt/src/core/nuxt.ts
index fde46028e7..40a1a265d1 100644
--- a/packages/nuxt/src/core/nuxt.ts
+++ b/packages/nuxt/src/core/nuxt.ts
@@ -305,6 +305,18 @@ async function initNuxt (nuxt: Nuxt) {
     }
   }
 
+  // Add stubs for <NuxtImg> and <NuxtPicture>
+  for (const name of ['NuxtImg', 'NuxtPicture']) {
+    addComponent({
+      name,
+      export: name,
+      priority: -1,
+      filePath: resolve(nuxt.options.appDir, 'components/nuxt-stubs'),
+      // @ts-expect-error TODO: refactor to nuxi
+      _internal_install: '@nuxt/image'
+    })
+  }
+
   // Add prerender payload support
   if (!nuxt.options.dev && nuxt.options.experimental.payloadExtraction) {
     addPlugin(resolve(nuxt.options.appDir, 'plugins/payload.client'))