diff --git a/airflow/providers/google/cloud/example_dags/example_kubernetes_engine.py b/airflow/providers/google/cloud/example_dags/example_kubernetes_engine.py
index e05ad333cb5d2..5d12fcf125a34 100644
--- a/airflow/providers/google/cloud/example_dags/example_kubernetes_engine.py
+++ b/airflow/providers/google/cloud/example_dags/example_kubernetes_engine.py
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@
         namespace="default",
         image="perl",
         name="test-pod",
+        in_cluster=False,
     )
 
     # [START howto_operator_gke_start_pod_xcom]
@@ -74,6 +75,7 @@
         image="alpine",
         cmds=["sh", "-c", 'mkdir -p /airflow/xcom/;echo \'[1,2,3,4]\' > /airflow/xcom/return.json'],
         name="test-pod-xcom",
+        in_cluster=False,
     )
     # [END howto_operator_gke_start_pod_xcom]
 
diff --git a/airflow/providers/google/common/hooks/base_google.py b/airflow/providers/google/common/hooks/base_google.py
index f6e11a279cd24..e46d8c8cb85f5 100644
--- a/airflow/providers/google/common/hooks/base_google.py
+++ b/airflow/providers/google/common/hooks/base_google.py
@@ -493,9 +493,6 @@ def provide_authorized_gcloud(self):
             gcloud_config_tmp = exit_stack.enter_context(tempfile.TemporaryDirectory())
             exit_stack.enter_context(patch_environ({CLOUD_SDK_CONFIG_DIR: gcloud_config_tmp}))
 
-            if project_id:
-                # Don't display stdout/stderr for security reason
-                check_output(["gcloud", "config", "set", "core/project", project_id])
             if CREDENTIALS in os.environ:
                 # This solves most cases when we are logged in using the service key in Airflow.
                 # Don't display stdout/stderr for security reason
@@ -507,6 +504,9 @@ def provide_authorized_gcloud(self):
                         f"--key-file={os.environ[CREDENTIALS]}",
                     ]
                 )
+            if project_id:
+                # Don't display stdout/stderr for security reason
+                check_output(["gcloud", "config", "set", "core/project", project_id])
             elif os.path.exists(credentials_path):
                 # If we are logged in by `gcloud auth application-default` then we need to log in manually.
                 # This will make the `gcloud auth application-default` and `gcloud auth` credentials equals.