diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index f2764bc..f225a86 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@
           "scope": "resource"
         },
         "vitest.nodeExecutable": {
-          "markdownDescription": "The path to the Node.js executable. If not assigned, tries to find Node.js path via a PATH variable or a `which` command. This is applied only when `vitest.shellType` is `child_process` (the default).",
+          "markdownDescription": "The path to the Node.js executable. If not assigned, Vitest just passes down `'node'` to `child_process.spawn`. This is applied only when `vitest.shellType` is `child_process` (the default).",
           "type": "string",
           "scope": "window"
         },
diff --git a/src/api/child_process.ts b/src/api/child_process.ts
index 1af0f32..6c33c9c 100644
--- a/src/api/child_process.ts
+++ b/src/api/child_process.ts
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ export async function createVitestProcess(pkg: VitestPackage) {
   const server = createServer().listen(port)
   const wss = new WebSocketServer({ server })
   const wsAddress = `ws://localhost:${port}`
-  const vitest = spawn('node', [...execArgv, workerPath], {
+  const vitest = spawn(getConfig(pkg.folder).nodeExecutable || 'node', [...execArgv, workerPath], {
     env: {
       ...process.env,
       ...env,