diff --git a/packages/react/src/generators/host/lib/setup-ssr-for-host.ts b/packages/react/src/generators/host/lib/setup-ssr-for-host.ts
index 12e54e1649813..172f5a522d632 100644
--- a/packages/react/src/generators/host/lib/setup-ssr-for-host.ts
+++ b/packages/react/src/generators/host/lib/setup-ssr-for-host.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import {
   joinPathFragments,
   names,
   readProjectConfiguration,
+  updateProjectConfiguration,
 } from '@nrwl/devkit';
 import { runTasksInSerial } from '@nrwl/workspace/src/utilities/run-tasks-in-serial';
 
@@ -19,7 +20,10 @@ export async function setupSsrForHost(
   defaultRemoteManifest: { name: string; port: number }[]
 ) {
   const tasks: GeneratorCallback[] = [];
-  const project = readProjectConfiguration(tree, appName);
+  let project = readProjectConfiguration(tree, appName);
+  project.targets.serve.executor =
+    '@nrwl/react:module-federation-ssr-dev-server';
+  updateProjectConfiguration(tree, appName, project);
 
   generateFiles(
     tree,