diff --git a/packages/angular-cli/tasks/serve.ts b/packages/angular-cli/tasks/serve.ts
index a1e862a398e2..64201cce0fc3 100644
--- a/packages/angular-cli/tasks/serve.ts
+++ b/packages/angular-cli/tasks/serve.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import * as fs from 'fs';
 import * as path from 'path';
 import * as chalk from 'chalk';
+import * as rimraf from 'rimraf';
 const SilentError = require('silent-error');
 const Task = require('../ember-cli/lib/models/task');
 import * as webpack from 'webpack';
@@ -22,6 +23,9 @@ export default Task.extend({
     const projectConfig = CliConfig.fromProject().config;
     const appConfig = projectConfig.apps[0];
 
+    const outputPath = serveTaskOptions.outputPath || appConfig.outDir;
+    rimraf.sync(path.resolve(this.project.root, outputPath));
+
     const serveDefaults = {
       // default deployUrl to '' on serve to prevent the default from angular-cli.json
       deployUrl: ''