diff --git a/packages/cli/src/utils/generate.js b/packages/cli/src/utils/generate.js
index 92760f5b70..2a37736d8c 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/utils/generate.js
+++ b/packages/cli/src/utils/generate.js
@@ -59,13 +59,27 @@ export async function ensureBuild (cmd) {
 
   const currentBuildSnapshot = await snapshot(snapshotOptions)
 
+  // Detect process.env usage in nuxt.config
+  const processEnv = {}
+  if (nuxt.options._nuxtConfigFile) {
+    const configSrc = await fs.readFile(nuxt.options._nuxtConfigFile)
+    const envRegex = /process.env.(\w+)/g
+    let match
+    // eslint-disable-next-line no-cond-assign
+    while (match = envRegex.exec(configSrc)) {
+      processEnv[match[1]] = process.env[match[1]]
+    }
+  }
+
   // Current build meta
   const currentBuild = {
     // @ts-ignore
     nuxtVersion: nuxt.constructor.version,
     ssr: nuxt.options.ssr,
     target: nuxt.options.target,
-    snapshot: currentBuildSnapshot
+    snapshot: currentBuildSnapshot,
+    env: nuxt.options.env,
+    'process.env': processEnv
   }
 
   // Check if build can be skipped
@@ -74,9 +88,10 @@ export async function ensureBuild (cmd) {
     const previousBuild = destr(fs.readFileSync(nuxtBuildFile, 'utf-8')) || {}
 
     // Quick diff
-    const needBuild = false
-    for (const field of ['nuxtVersion', 'ssr', 'target']) {
-      if (previousBuild[field] !== currentBuild[field]) {
+    let needBuild = false
+    for (const field of ['nuxtVersion', 'ssr', 'target', 'env', 'process.env']) {
+      if (JSON.stringify(previousBuild[field]) !== JSON.stringify(currentBuild[field])) {
+        needBuild = true
         consola.info(`Doing webpack rebuild because ${field} changed`)
         break
       }
diff --git a/test/fixtures/full-static/nuxt.config.js b/test/fixtures/full-static/nuxt.config.js
index d1cd81e00e..17f2cffb15 100644
--- a/test/fixtures/full-static/nuxt.config.js
+++ b/test/fixtures/full-static/nuxt.config.js
@@ -11,6 +11,12 @@ export default {
   build: {
     publicPath: '/test/_nuxt/'
   },
+  foo: {
+    shell: process.env.SHELL
+  },
+  env: {
+    x: 123
+  },
   hooks: {
     export: {
       before ({ setPayload }) {