diff --git a/packages/nuxt/src/app/composables/cookie.ts b/packages/nuxt/src/app/composables/cookie.ts
index 7a7d6eb937..666e43961f 100644
--- a/packages/nuxt/src/app/composables/cookie.ts
+++ b/packages/nuxt/src/app/composables/cookie.ts
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ export interface CookieOptions<T = any> extends _CookieOptions {
   default?: () => T | Ref<T>
 }
 
-export interface CookieRef<T> extends Ref<T | null> {}
+export interface CookieRef<T> extends Ref<T> {}
 
 const CookieDefaults: CookieOptions<any> = {
   path: '/',
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ const CookieDefaults: CookieOptions<any> = {
   encode: val => encodeURIComponent(typeof val === 'string' ? val : JSON.stringify(val))
 }
 
-export function useCookie <T = string> (name: string, _opts?: CookieOptions<T>): CookieRef<T> {
+export function useCookie <T = string | null> (name: string, _opts?: CookieOptions<T>): CookieRef<T> {
   const opts = { ...CookieDefaults, ..._opts }
   const cookies = readRawCookies(opts) || {}
 
diff --git a/test/fixtures/basic/types.ts b/test/fixtures/basic/types.ts
index db32fda10d..0dab812239 100644
--- a/test/fixtures/basic/types.ts
+++ b/test/fixtures/basic/types.ts
@@ -161,9 +161,9 @@ describe('composables', () => {
     expectTypeOf(useState('test', () => ref('hello'))).toEqualTypeOf<Ref<string>>()
     expectTypeOf(useState('test', () => 'hello')).toEqualTypeOf<Ref<string>>()
 
-    expectTypeOf(useCookie('test', { default: () => ref(500) })).toEqualTypeOf<Ref<number | null>>()
-    expectTypeOf(useCookie('test', { default: () => 500 })).toEqualTypeOf<Ref<number | null>>()
-    useCookie('test').value = null
+    expectTypeOf(useCookie('test', { default: () => ref(500) })).toEqualTypeOf<Ref<number>>()
+    expectTypeOf(useCookie('test', { default: () => 500 })).toEqualTypeOf<Ref<number>>()
+    useCookie<number | null>('test').value = null
 
     expectTypeOf(useAsyncData('test', () => Promise.resolve(500), { default: () => ref(500) }).data).toEqualTypeOf<Ref<number | null>>()
     expectTypeOf(useAsyncData('test', () => Promise.resolve(500), { default: () => 500 }).data).toEqualTypeOf<Ref<number | null>>()