diff --git a/e2e/node/src/node.test.ts b/e2e/node/src/node.test.ts
index e8ed0ee3fd8fb2..c62cf26616c677 100644
--- a/e2e/node/src/node.test.ts
+++ b/e2e/node/src/node.test.ts
@@ -108,7 +108,16 @@ describe('Node Applications', () => {
       `apps/${nodeapp}/src/additional-main.ts`,
       `console.log('Hello Additional World!');`
     );
-    updateFile(`apps/${nodeapp}/src/main.ts`, `console.log('Hello World!');`);
+    updateFile(
+      `apps/${nodeapp}/src/main.ts`,
+      `console.log('Hello World!');
+    console.log('env: ' + process.env['NODE_ENV']);
+    `
+    );
+    // deleting `NODE_ENV` value, so that it's `undefined`, and not `"test"`
+    // this simulates a real behaviour of running node outside on this e2e test
+    delete process.env.NODE_ENV;
+
     await runCLIAsync(`build ${nodeapp}`);
 
     checkFilesExist(
@@ -119,6 +128,7 @@ describe('Node Applications', () => {
       cwd: tmpProjPath(),
     }).toString();
     expect(result).toContain('Hello World!');
+    expect(result).toContain('env: development');
 
     const additionalResult = execSync(
       `node dist/apps/${nodeapp}/additional-main.js`,
diff --git a/packages/esbuild/src/executors/esbuild/esbuild.impl.ts b/packages/esbuild/src/executors/esbuild/esbuild.impl.ts
index 872d35b1a771b7..239b74828bd209 100644
--- a/packages/esbuild/src/executors/esbuild/esbuild.impl.ts
+++ b/packages/esbuild/src/executors/esbuild/esbuild.impl.ts
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ export async function* esbuildExecutor(
   _options: EsBuildExecutorOptions,
   context: ExecutorContext
 ) {
-  process.env.NODE_ENV ??= context.configurationName;
+  process.env.NODE_ENV ??= context.configurationName ?? 'production';
 
   const options = normalizeOptions(_options, context);
   if (options.deleteOutputPath) removeSync(options.outputPath);
diff --git a/packages/js/src/executors/node/node.impl.ts b/packages/js/src/executors/node/node.impl.ts
index 5571eab8e47ab7..d22b07bfe86d1b 100644
--- a/packages/js/src/executors/node/node.impl.ts
+++ b/packages/js/src/executors/node/node.impl.ts
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ export async function* nodeExecutor(
   options: NodeExecutorOptions,
   context: ExecutorContext
 ) {
+  process.env.NODE_ENV ??= context?.configurationName ?? 'development';
   const project = context.projectGraph.nodes[context.projectName];
   const buildTarget = parseTargetString(
     options.buildTarget,