diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 99d256e7b06..15b01df779a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ Ref: https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/
   * Updated gRPC dependency to v1.33.2
   * Updated iavl dependency to v0.15-rc2
 * (version) [\#7848](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/7848) [\#7941](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/7941) `version --long` output now shows the list of build dependencies and replaced build dependencies.
+* (x/genutil) [\#8099](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/8099) `init` now supports a `--recover` flag to recover the private validator key from a given mnemonic
 
 ### State Machine Breaking Changes
 * (x/upgrade) [\#7979](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/7979) keeper pubkey storage serialization migration from bech32 to protobuf.
diff --git a/x/genutil/client/cli/init.go b/x/genutil/client/cli/init.go
index 60eb18deed2..074bb7da4e7 100644
--- a/x/genutil/client/cli/init.go
+++ b/x/genutil/client/cli/init.go
@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 package cli
 
 import (
+	"bufio"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 
+	"github.com/cosmos/go-bip39"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 	cfg "github.com/tendermint/tendermint/config"
@@ -16,6 +18,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/client"
 	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/client/flags"
+	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/client/input"
 	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/server"
 	sdk "github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/types"
 	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/types/module"
@@ -25,6 +28,9 @@ import (
 const (
 	// FlagOverwrite defines a flag to overwrite an existing genesis JSON file.
 	FlagOverwrite = "overwrite"
+
+	// FlagSeed defines a flag to initialize the private validator key from a specific seed.
+	FlagRecover = "recover"
 )
 
 type printInfo struct {
@@ -78,7 +84,22 @@ func InitCmd(mbm module.BasicManager, defaultNodeHome string) *cobra.Command {
 				chainID = fmt.Sprintf("test-chain-%v", tmrand.Str(6))
 			}
 
-			nodeID, _, err := genutil.InitializeNodeValidatorFiles(config)
+			// Get bip39 mnemonic
+			var mnemonic string
+			recover, _ := cmd.Flags().GetBool(FlagRecover)
+			if recover {
+				inBuf := bufio.NewReader(cmd.InOrStdin())
+				mnemonic, err := input.GetString("Enter your bip39 mnemonic", inBuf)
+				if err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
+
+				if !bip39.IsMnemonicValid(mnemonic) {
+					return errors.New("invalid mnemonic")
+				}
+			}
+
+			nodeID, _, err := genutil.InitializeNodeValidatorFilesFromMnemonic(config, mnemonic)
 			if err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
@@ -124,6 +145,7 @@ func InitCmd(mbm module.BasicManager, defaultNodeHome string) *cobra.Command {
 
 	cmd.Flags().String(cli.HomeFlag, defaultNodeHome, "node's home directory")
 	cmd.Flags().BoolP(FlagOverwrite, "o", false, "overwrite the genesis.json file")
+	cmd.Flags().Bool(FlagRecover, false, "provide seed phrase to recover existing key instead of creating")
 	cmd.Flags().String(flags.FlagChainID, "", "genesis file chain-id, if left blank will be randomly created")
 
 	return cmd
diff --git a/x/genutil/client/cli/init_test.go b/x/genutil/client/cli/init_test.go
index 213a20e0028..80820052dfa 100644
--- a/x/genutil/client/cli/init_test.go
+++ b/x/genutil/client/cli/init_test.go
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import (
 	cryptocodec "github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/crypto/codec"
 	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/server"
 	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/server/mock"
+	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/testutil"
 	sdk "github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/types"
 	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/types/module"
 	"github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/x/genutil"
@@ -86,6 +87,37 @@ func TestInitCmd(t *testing.T) {
 
 }
 
+func TestInitRecover(t *testing.T) {
+	home := t.TempDir()
+	logger := log.NewNopLogger()
+	cfg, err := genutiltest.CreateDefaultTendermintConfig(home)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	serverCtx := server.NewContext(viper.New(), cfg, logger)
+	interfaceRegistry := types.NewInterfaceRegistry()
+	marshaler := codec.NewProtoCodec(interfaceRegistry)
+	clientCtx := client.Context{}.
+		WithJSONMarshaler(marshaler).
+		WithLegacyAmino(makeCodec()).
+		WithHomeDir(home)
+
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	ctx = context.WithValue(ctx, client.ClientContextKey, &clientCtx)
+	ctx = context.WithValue(ctx, server.ServerContextKey, serverCtx)
+
+	cmd := genutilcli.InitCmd(testMbm, home)
+	mockIn := testutil.ApplyMockIODiscardOutErr(cmd)
+
+	cmd.SetArgs([]string{
+		"appnode-test",
+		fmt.Sprintf("--%s=true", genutilcli.FlagRecover),
+	})
+
+	// use valid mnemonic and complete recovery key generation successfully
+	mockIn.Reset("decide praise business actor peasant farm drastic weather extend front hurt later song give verb rhythm worry fun pond reform school tumble august one\n")
+	require.NoError(t, cmd.ExecuteContext(ctx))
+}
+
 func TestEmptyState(t *testing.T) {
 	home := t.TempDir()
 	logger := log.NewNopLogger()
diff --git a/x/genutil/utils.go b/x/genutil/utils.go
index 14ac11f533a..4c46bdb6f12 100644
--- a/x/genutil/utils.go
+++ b/x/genutil/utils.go
@@ -2,10 +2,13 @@ package genutil
 
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"time"
 
+	"github.com/cosmos/go-bip39"
 	cfg "github.com/tendermint/tendermint/config"
+	tmed25519 "github.com/tendermint/tendermint/crypto/ed25519"
 	tmos "github.com/tendermint/tendermint/libs/os"
 	"github.com/tendermint/tendermint/p2p"
 	"github.com/tendermint/tendermint/privval"
@@ -48,6 +51,16 @@ func ExportGenesisFileWithTime(
 
 // InitializeNodeValidatorFiles creates private validator and p2p configuration files.
 func InitializeNodeValidatorFiles(config *cfg.Config) (nodeID string, valPubKey cryptotypes.PubKey, err error) {
+	return InitializeNodeValidatorFilesFromMnemonic(config, "")
+}
+
+// InitializeNodeValidatorFiles creates private validator and p2p configuration files using the given mnemonic.
+// If no valid mnemonic is given, a random one will be used instead.
+func InitializeNodeValidatorFilesFromMnemonic(config *cfg.Config, mnemonic string) (nodeID string, valPubKey cryptotypes.PubKey, err error) {
+	if len(mnemonic) > 0 && !bip39.IsMnemonicValid(mnemonic) {
+		return "", nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid mnemonic")
+	}
+
 	nodeKey, err := p2p.LoadOrGenNodeKey(config.NodeKeyFile())
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", nil, err
@@ -65,7 +78,15 @@ func InitializeNodeValidatorFiles(config *cfg.Config) (nodeID string, valPubKey
 		return "", nil, err
 	}
 
-	tmValPubKey, err := privval.LoadOrGenFilePV(pvKeyFile, pvStateFile).GetPubKey()
+	var filePV *privval.FilePV
+	if len(mnemonic) == 0 {
+		filePV = privval.LoadOrGenFilePV(pvKeyFile, pvStateFile)
+	} else {
+		privKey := tmed25519.GenPrivKeyFromSecret([]byte(mnemonic))
+		filePV = privval.NewFilePV(privKey, pvKeyFile, pvStateFile)
+	}
+
+	tmValPubKey, err := filePV.GetPubKey()
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", nil, err
 	}
diff --git a/x/genutil/utils_test.go b/x/genutil/utils_test.go
index d1a80d58c1c..a845cc68cd9 100644
--- a/x/genutil/utils_test.go
+++ b/x/genutil/utils_test.go
@@ -2,11 +2,13 @@ package genutil
 
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
+	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+	"github.com/tendermint/tendermint/config"
 )
 
 func TestExportGenesisFileWithTime(t *testing.T) {
@@ -16,3 +18,46 @@ func TestExportGenesisFileWithTime(t *testing.T) {
 
 	require.NoError(t, ExportGenesisFileWithTime(fname, "test", nil, json.RawMessage(`{"account_owner": "Bob"}`), time.Now()))
 }
+
+func TestInitializeNodeValidatorFilesFromMnemonic(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	cfg := config.TestConfig()
+	cfg.RootDir = t.TempDir()
+	require.NoError(t, os.MkdirAll(filepath.Join(cfg.RootDir, "config"), 0755))
+
+	tests := []struct {
+		name     string
+		mnemonic string
+		expError bool
+	}{
+		{
+			name:     "invalid mnemonic returns error",
+			mnemonic: "side video kiss hotel essence",
+			expError: true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:     "empty mnemonic does not return error",
+			mnemonic: "",
+			expError: false,
+		},
+		{
+			name:     "valid mnemonic does not return error",
+			mnemonic: "side video kiss hotel essence door angle student degree during vague adjust submit trick globe muscle frozen vacuum artwork million shield bind useful wave",
+			expError: false,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		tt := tt
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			_, _, err := InitializeNodeValidatorFilesFromMnemonic(cfg, tt.mnemonic)
+
+			if tt.expError {
+				require.Error(t, err)
+			} else {
+				require.NoError(t, err)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}