diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/local/LocalGateway.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/local/LocalGateway.java
index 726bc19cc15..758d9d77266 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/local/LocalGateway.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/local/LocalGateway.java
@@ -95,6 +95,8 @@ public class LocalGateway extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<Gateway> implements
 
     private volatile boolean initialized = false;
 
+    private volatile boolean metaDataPersistedAtLeastOnce = false;
+
     @Inject public LocalGateway(Settings settings, ClusterService clusterService, NodeEnvironment nodeEnv,
                                 TransportNodesListGatewayMetaState listGatewayMetaState, TransportNodesListGatewayStartedShards listGatewayStartedShards) {
         super(settings);
@@ -193,7 +195,7 @@ public class LocalGateway extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<Gateway> implements
         }
 
         // we only write the local metadata if this is a possible master node
-        if (event.state().nodes().localNode().masterNode() && event.metaDataChanged()) {
+        if (event.state().nodes().localNode().masterNode() && (event.metaDataChanged() || !metaDataPersistedAtLeastOnce)) {
             executor.execute(new LoggingRunnable(logger, new PersistMetaData(event)));
         }
 
@@ -443,6 +445,7 @@ public class LocalGateway extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<Gateway> implements
             } catch (IOException e) {
                 logger.warn("failed to write updated state", e);
             }
+            metaDataPersistedAtLeastOnce = true;
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/modules/test/integration/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/gateway/local/SimpleRecoveryLocalGatewayTests.java b/modules/test/integration/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/gateway/local/SimpleRecoveryLocalGatewayTests.java
index 56e4430a47a..426bae30924 100644
--- a/modules/test/integration/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/gateway/local/SimpleRecoveryLocalGatewayTests.java
+++ b/modules/test/integration/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/gateway/local/SimpleRecoveryLocalGatewayTests.java
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.indices.status.IndicesStatusResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.indices.status.ShardStatus;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.ImmutableSettings;
 import org.elasticsearch.gateway.Gateway;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.query.QueryBuilders;
 import org.elasticsearch.node.Node;
 import org.elasticsearch.node.internal.InternalNode;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.integration.AbstractNodesTests;
@@ -365,4 +366,31 @@ public class SimpleRecoveryLocalGatewayTests extends AbstractNodesTests {
             }
         }
     }
+
+    @Test public void testRecoveryDifferentNodeOrderStartup() throws Exception {
+        // we need different data paths so we make sure we start the second node fresh
+        buildNode("node1", settingsBuilder().put("gateway.type", "local").put("path.data", "data/data1").build());
+        buildNode("node2", settingsBuilder().put("gateway.type", "local").put("path.data", "data/data2").build());
+        cleanAndCloseNodes();
+
+        startNode("node1", settingsBuilder().put("gateway.type", "local").put("path.data", "data/data1").build());
+
+        client("node1").prepareIndex("test", "type1", "1").setSource("field", "value").execute().actionGet();
+
+        startNode("node2", settingsBuilder().put("gateway.type", "local").put("path.data", "data/data2").build());
+
+        ClusterHealthResponse health = client("node2").admin().cluster().prepareHealth().setWaitForGreenStatus().execute().actionGet();
+        assertThat(health.timedOut(), equalTo(false));
+
+        closeNode("node1");
+        closeNode("node2");
+
+        startNode("node2", settingsBuilder().put("gateway.type", "local").put("path.data", "data/data2").build());
+
+        health = client("node2").admin().cluster().prepareHealth().setWaitForYellowStatus().execute().actionGet();
+        assertThat(health.timedOut(), equalTo(false));
+
+        assertThat(client("node2").admin().indices().prepareExists("test").execute().actionGet().exists(), equalTo(true));
+        assertThat(client("node2").prepareCount("test").setQuery(QueryBuilders.matchAllQuery()).execute().actionGet().count(), equalTo(1l));
+    }
 }