diff --git a/examples/app-vitest/test/e2e/dev-concurrent.spec.ts b/examples/app-vitest/test/e2e/dev-concurrent.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..714d335b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/app-vitest/test/e2e/dev-concurrent.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url'
+import { createTest, setTestContext } from '@nuxt/test-utils/e2e'
+import { afterAll, beforeAll, describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+
+const rootDir = fileURLToPath(new URL('../../', import.meta.url))
+const servers = [createTest({ rootDir, dev: true }), createTest({ rootDir, dev: true })]
+
+for (const server of servers) {
+  beforeAll(async () => {
+    setTestContext(server.ctx)
+    await server.beforeAll()
+  }, server.ctx.options.setupTimeout)
+  afterAll(server.afterAll, server.ctx.options.teardownTimeout)
+}
+
+describe('concurrent dev servers', () => {
+  it('runs two dev servers for the same fixture', async () => {
+    const [first, second] = servers.map(server => server.ctx)
+    expect(first!.nuxt!.options.buildDir).not.toBe(second!.nuxt!.options.buildDir)
+    for (const ctx of [first!, second!]) {
+      const html = await fetch(ctx.url!).then(res => res.text())
+      expect(html).toContain('My title')
+    }
+  })
+})
diff --git a/examples/app-vitest/test/e2e/dev-config.spec.ts b/examples/app-vitest/test/e2e/dev-config.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fb8d6a018
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/app-vitest/test/e2e/dev-config.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url'
+import { $fetch, setup } from '@nuxt/test-utils/e2e'
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+
+await setup({
+  rootDir: fileURLToPath(new URL('../../', import.meta.url)),
+  dev: true,
+  nuxtConfig: {
+    ssr: false,
+    app: { head: { title: 'Overridden in dev' } },
+  },
+})
+
+describe('server (dev) with nuxtConfig overrides', () => {
+  it('applies the overrides to the dev server', async () => {
+    const html = await $fetch<string>('/')
+    expect(html).toContain('<title>Overridden in dev</title>')
+    expect(html).not.toContain('My title')
+  })
+})
diff --git a/src/e2e/dev-server.ts b/src/e2e/dev-server.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1781d9b09
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/e2e/dev-server.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+import process from 'node:process'
+import { pathToFileURL } from 'node:url'
+
+interface NuxtCli {
+  runCommand: (name: string, argv?: string[], data?: { overrides?: Record<string, unknown> }) => Promise<unknown>
+}
+
+const overrides = JSON.parse(process.env.__NUXT_TEST_DEV_OVERRIDES__ || '{}')
+delete process.env.__NUXT_TEST_DEV_OVERRIDES__
+
+process.on('unhandledRejection', err => console.error('[unhandledRejection]', err))
+process.on('uncaughtException', err => console.error('[uncaughtException]', err))
+
+const { runCommand }: NuxtCli = await import(pathToFileURL(process.argv[2]!).href)
+await runCommand('_dev', [], { overrides })
diff --git a/src/e2e/nuxt.ts b/src/e2e/nuxt.ts
index d085120c7..14af02f4c 100644
--- a/src/e2e/nuxt.ts
+++ b/src/e2e/nuxt.ts
@@ -41,11 +41,11 @@ export async function loadFixture() {
 
   ctx.options.rootDir = resolveRootDir()
 
+  const randomId = Math.random().toString(36).slice(2, 8)
+  const buildDir = ctx.options.buildDir || resolve(ctx.options.rootDir, '.nuxt', 'test', randomId)
+  ctx.options.nuxtConfig = defu(ctx.options.nuxtConfig, { buildDir })
   if (!ctx.options.dev) {
-    const randomId = Math.random().toString(36).slice(2, 8)
-    const buildDir = ctx.options.buildDir || resolve(ctx.options.rootDir, '.nuxt', 'test', randomId)
     ctx.options.nuxtConfig = defu(ctx.options.nuxtConfig, {
-      buildDir,
       nitro: {
         output: {
           dir: resolve(buildDir, 'output'),
@@ -56,6 +56,8 @@ export async function loadFixture() {
 
   // TODO: share Nuxt instance with running Nuxt if possible
   if (ctx.options.build) {
+    // avoid creating / deleting build dirs that already exist - avoids misconfiguration deletes
+    const buildDirExists = existsSync(resolve(ctx.options.rootDir, ctx.options.nuxtConfig.buildDir!))
     const { loadNuxt, logger } = await loadKit(ctx.options.rootDir)
     ctx.nuxt = await loadNuxt({
       cwd: ctx.options.rootDir,
@@ -67,8 +69,7 @@ export async function loadFixture() {
     })
 
     const buildDir = ctx.nuxt.options.buildDir
-    // avoid creating / deleting build dirs that already exist - avoids misconfiguration deletes
-    if (!existsSync(buildDir)) {
+    if (!buildDirExists) {
       await fsp.mkdir(buildDir, { recursive: true })
       ctx.teardown = ctx.teardown || []
       ctx.teardown.push(() => fsp.rm(buildDir, { recursive: true, force: true }))
diff --git a/src/e2e/server.ts b/src/e2e/server.ts
index 7be822e6d..f1903bec9 100644
--- a/src/e2e/server.ts
+++ b/src/e2e/server.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import { distDir } from '#dirs'
 import { x, xSync } from 'tinyexec'
 import { getRandomPort, waitForPort } from 'get-port-please'
 import { isWindows } from 'std-env'
@@ -6,6 +7,7 @@ import { fetch as _fetch, createFetch } from 'ofetch'
 import { resolve } from 'pathe'
 import { joinURL } from 'ufo'
 import { useTestContext } from './context.ts'
+import { resolveNuxtCli, toSerializable } from '../utils.ts'
 import type { TestContext } from './types.ts'
 
 const globalFetch = globalThis.fetch || _fetch
@@ -41,10 +43,11 @@ export async function startServer(options: StartServerOptions = {}) {
   const logLevel = String(options.logLevel ?? ctx.options.logLevel)
   const startedAt = Date.now()
   if (ctx.options.dev) {
-    ctx.serverProcess = x('nuxi', ['_dev'], {
+    const rootDir = ctx.nuxt!.options.rootDir
+    ctx.serverProcess = x('node', [resolve(distDir, 'e2e/dev-server.mjs'), resolveNuxtCli(rootDir)], {
       throwOnError: true,
       nodeOptions: {
-        cwd: ctx.nuxt!.options.rootDir,
+        cwd: rootDir,
         stdio,
         env: {
           ...process.env,
@@ -55,6 +58,7 @@ export async function startServer(options: StartServerOptions = {}) {
           CONSOLA_LEVEL: logLevel,
           ...ctx.options.env,
           ...options.env,
+          __NUXT_TEST_DEV_OVERRIDES__: serializeDevOverrides(ctx.options.nuxtConfig),
         },
       },
     })
@@ -105,6 +109,14 @@ export async function startServer(options: StartServerOptions = {}) {
   await waitForServer({ host, port, startedAt })
 }
 
+function serializeDevOverrides(nuxtConfig: TestContext['options']['nuxtConfig']) {
+  const { value, omitted } = toSerializable(nuxtConfig)
+  if (omitted.length) {
+    console.warn(`[@nuxt/test-utils] These \`nuxtConfig\` values cannot be passed to the dev server and will be ignored: ${omitted.map(path => `\`${path}\``).join(', ')}`)
+  }
+  return JSON.stringify(value ?? {})
+}
+
 interface WaitForServerOptions {
   host: string
   port: number
@@ -233,9 +245,8 @@ async function waitForServer({ host, port, startedAt }: WaitForServerOptions) {
 }
 
 /**
- * On Windows there are no process groups, and tinyexec routes commands that
- * resolve to a `.cmd` shim (such as `nuxi`) through `cmd.exe /d /s /c`.
- * `taskkill /T /F` walks the tree and terminates the descendants too.
+ * On Windows there are no process groups, so `taskkill /T /F` is used to
+ * terminate the server process together with its descendants.
  */
 function killProcessTree(pid: number) {
   try {
diff --git a/src/utils.ts b/src/utils.ts
index 40f6a5c7d..5898c8429 100644
--- a/src/utils.ts
+++ b/src/utils.ts
@@ -159,6 +159,59 @@ export async function loadKit(rootDir: string): Promise<typeof import('@nuxt/kit
   }
 }
 
+export function resolveNuxtCli(rootDir: string): string {
+  const cliPath = resolveModulePath('@nuxt/cli', { from: tryResolveNuxt(rootDir) || rootDir, try: true })
+  if (!cliPath) {
+    throw new Error('`@nuxt/test-utils` requires `@nuxt/cli` to start a dev server. Make sure `nuxt` is installed in your project.')
+  }
+  return cliPath
+}
+
+const OMITTED = Symbol('omitted')
+
+/**
+ * Copy plain objects, arrays and primitives, leaving out any value that cannot be represented as JSON
+ * (functions, class instances, regular expressions, circular references, ...).
+ * Returns the copy along with the paths of the values that were left out. `undefined` values are dropped without being reported.
+ */
+export function toSerializable(input: unknown): { value: unknown, omitted: string[] } {
+  const omitted: string[] = []
+  const value = serializableCopy(input, '', omitted, new Set())
+  return { value: value === OMITTED ? undefined : value, omitted }
+}
+
+function serializableCopy(input: unknown, path: string, omitted: string[], ancestors: Set<object>): unknown {
+  if (input === undefined) {
+    return OMITTED
+  }
+  if (input === null || typeof input === 'string' || typeof input === 'boolean' || (typeof input === 'number' && Number.isFinite(input))) {
+    return input
+  }
+  const isContainer = Array.isArray(input) || (typeof input === 'object' && [Object.prototype, null].includes(Object.getPrototypeOf(input)))
+  if (!isContainer || ancestors.has(input)) {
+    omitted.push(path)
+    return OMITTED
+  }
+  ancestors.add(input)
+  let copy: unknown[] | Record<string, unknown>
+  if (Array.isArray(input)) {
+    copy = input
+      .map((item, index) => serializableCopy(item, `${path}[${index}]`, omitted, ancestors))
+      .filter(item => item !== OMITTED)
+  }
+  else {
+    copy = {}
+    for (const key in input as Record<string, unknown>) {
+      const value = serializableCopy((input as Record<string, unknown>)[key], path ? `${path}.${key}` : key, omitted, ancestors)
+      if (value !== OMITTED) {
+        copy[key] = value
+      }
+    }
+  }
+  ancestors.delete(input)
+  return copy
+}
+
 function tryResolveNuxt(rootDir: string) {
   for (const pkg of ['nuxt-nightly', 'nuxt', 'nuxt3', 'nuxt-edge']) {
     const path = resolveModulePath(pkg, { from: rootDir, try: true })
diff --git a/test/unit/to-serializable.spec.ts b/test/unit/to-serializable.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..38abd13c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/to-serializable.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+
+import { toSerializable } from '../../src/utils.ts'
+
+describe('toSerializable', () => {
+  it('should keep plain values and report the paths of values that cannot be serialized', () => {
+    const source: Record<string, unknown> = {
+      ssr: false,
+      app: { head: { title: 'title' } },
+      hooks: { ready: () => {} },
+      modules: ['a', () => {}, undefined, 'b'],
+      build: { transpile: [/foo/] },
+    }
+    source.self = source
+
+    expect(toSerializable(source)).toEqual({
+      value: {
+        ssr: false,
+        app: { head: { title: 'title' } },
+        hooks: {},
+        modules: ['a', 'b'],
+        build: { transpile: [] },
+      },
+      omitted: ['hooks.ready', 'modules[1]', 'build.transpile[0]', 'self'],
+    })
+  })
+})
diff --git a/tsdown.config.ts b/tsdown.config.ts
index 76d8b630a..43ce573c8 100644
--- a/tsdown.config.ts
+++ b/tsdown.config.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ export default defineConfig([
     exports: false,
     entry: [
       'src/e2e.ts',
+      'src/e2e/dev-server.ts',
       'src/playwright.ts',
       'src/experimental.ts',
       'src/config.ts',