diff --git a/src/runtime/config.ts b/src/runtime/config.ts
index aef219b23b..7012a202ae 100644
--- a/src/runtime/config.ts
+++ b/src/runtime/config.ts
@@ -4,16 +4,21 @@ import { snakeCase } from 'scule'
 // Bundled runtime config (injected by nitro)
 const _runtimeConfig = process.env.RUNTIME_CONFIG as any
 
+const ENV_PREFIX = 'NITRO_'
+const ENV_PREFIX_ALT = _runtimeConfig.NITRO_ENV_PREFIX_ALT || process.env.NITRO_ENV_PREFIX_ALT || '_'
+
 // Allow override from process.env and deserialize
-for (const key in _runtimeConfig) {
-  // baseURL can be overridden by BASE_URL
+const getEnv = (key) => {
   const envKey = snakeCase(key).toUpperCase()
-  _runtimeConfig[key] = destr(process.env[envKey] || _runtimeConfig[key])
+  return destr(process.env[ENV_PREFIX + envKey] ?? (ENV_PREFIX_ALT && process.env[ENV_PREFIX_ALT + envKey]))
+}
+
+for (const key in _runtimeConfig) {
+  _runtimeConfig[key] = getEnv(key) ?? _runtimeConfig[key]
   if (_runtimeConfig[key] && typeof _runtimeConfig[key] === 'object') {
     for (const subkey in _runtimeConfig[key]) {
       // key: { subKey } can be overridden by KEY_SUB_KEY`
-      const envKeyName = `${envKey}_${snakeCase(subkey).toUpperCase()}`
-      _runtimeConfig[key][subkey] = destr(process.env[envKeyName]) || _runtimeConfig[key][subkey]
+      _runtimeConfig[key][subkey] = getEnv(`${key}_${subkey}`) ?? _runtimeConfig[key][subkey]
     }
   }
 }