diff --git a/packages/nuxi/src/utils/dev.ts b/packages/nuxi/src/utils/dev.ts
index bdc09b141..b25f26f77 100644
--- a/packages/nuxi/src/utils/dev.ts
+++ b/packages/nuxi/src/utils/dev.ts
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ import { joinURL } from 'ufo'
 import { clearBuildDir } from '../utils/fs'
 import { loadKit } from '../utils/kit'
 import { logger } from '../utils/logger'
-import { loadNuxtManifest, writeNuxtManifest } from '../utils/nuxt'
+import { loadNuxtManifest, resolveNuxtManifest, writeNuxtManifest } from '../utils/nuxt'
 
 export type NuxtDevIPCMessage =
   | { type: 'nuxt:internal:dev:ready', port: number }
@@ -216,10 +216,15 @@ class NuxtDevServer extends EventEmitter {
 
     // Write manifest and also check if we need cache invalidation
     if (!reload) {
-      const previousManifest = await loadNuxtManifest(
-        this._currentNuxt.options.buildDir,
-      )
-      const newManifest = await writeNuxtManifest(this._currentNuxt)
+      const previousManifest = await loadNuxtManifest(this._currentNuxt.options.buildDir)
+      const newManifest = resolveNuxtManifest(this._currentNuxt)
+
+      // we deliberately do not block initialising Nuxt on creation of the manifest
+      const promise = writeNuxtManifest(this._currentNuxt, newManifest)
+      this._currentNuxt.hooks.hookOnce('ready', async () => {
+        await promise
+      })
+
       if (
         previousManifest
         && newManifest
@@ -284,7 +289,6 @@ class NuxtDevServer extends EventEmitter {
     }
 
     await Promise.all([
-
       kit.writeTypes(this._currentNuxt).catch(console.error),
       kit.buildNuxt(this._currentNuxt),
     ])
diff --git a/packages/nuxi/src/utils/fs.ts b/packages/nuxi/src/utils/fs.ts
index bc7c2273c..13258f08b 100644
--- a/packages/nuxi/src/utils/fs.ts
+++ b/packages/nuxi/src/utils/fs.ts
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ export async function clearDir(path: string, exclude?: string[]) {
 }
 
 export function clearBuildDir(path: string) {
-  return clearDir(path, ['cache', 'analyze'])
+  return clearDir(path, ['cache', 'analyze', 'nuxt.json'])
 }
 
 export async function rmRecursive(paths: string[]) {
diff --git a/packages/nuxi/src/utils/nuxt.ts b/packages/nuxi/src/utils/nuxt.ts
index c0b5e29a6..d8863f0ee 100644
--- a/packages/nuxi/src/utils/nuxt.ts
+++ b/packages/nuxi/src/utils/nuxt.ts
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ export function nuxtVersionToGitIdentifier(version: string) {
   return `v${version}`
 }
 
-function resolveNuxtManifest(nuxt: Nuxt): NuxtProjectManifest {
+export function resolveNuxtManifest(nuxt: Nuxt): NuxtProjectManifest {
   const manifest: NuxtProjectManifest = {
     _hash: null,
     project: {
@@ -56,19 +56,14 @@ function resolveNuxtManifest(nuxt: Nuxt): NuxtProjectManifest {
   return manifest
 }
 
-export async function writeNuxtManifest(
-  nuxt: Nuxt,
-): Promise<NuxtProjectManifest> {
-  const manifest = resolveNuxtManifest(nuxt)
+export async function writeNuxtManifest(nuxt: Nuxt, manifest = resolveNuxtManifest(nuxt)): Promise<NuxtProjectManifest> {
   const manifestPath = resolve(nuxt.options.buildDir, 'nuxt.json')
   await fsp.mkdir(dirname(manifestPath), { recursive: true })
   await fsp.writeFile(manifestPath, JSON.stringify(manifest, null, 2), 'utf-8')
   return manifest
 }
 
-export async function loadNuxtManifest(
-  buildDir: string,
-): Promise<NuxtProjectManifest | null> {
+export async function loadNuxtManifest(buildDir: string): Promise<NuxtProjectManifest | null> {
   const manifestPath = resolve(buildDir, 'nuxt.json')
   const manifest: NuxtProjectManifest | null = await fsp
     .readFile(manifestPath, 'utf-8')