Glucose and Weight Management Kale Mushroom Veggie Starter recipe. Crafted to enhance nutrient absorption and support longevity, this delicious recipe combines the benefits of kale and mushrooms for a healthy start to any meal!
If you're looking to add just one healthy food to your diet, make it cruciferous vegetables. Even less than one daily serving of broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, or kale can reduce the risk of cancer progression by more than half. To preserve the cancer-fighting compound sulforaphane, chop these veggies up to 40 minutes before cooking or sprinkle some mustard powder on them after cooking.
This Kale & Mushroom Veggie Starter was inspired by my Cruciferous Veggie Starter recipe on this site, as well as this Wakame Seaweed Salad. It pairs well with this oil-free Creamy Asian Tahini Dressing. You might also enjoy my Healthy Mashed Sweet Potatoes, packed with flavor, and made with a special method that increases resistant starch—perfect for keeping blood sugar steady.
🥗How a Veggie Starter Helps Control Blood Sugar and Supports Healthy Weight
Cruciferous veggie starters are loaded with fiber, which plays a key role in weight and glucose management by reducing blood sugar spikes and limiting weight gain. Fiber creates a gel-like substance in the gut that delays the breakdown of carbohydrates into glucose, leading to a slower and steadier release of glucose into the bloodstream.
Plus, since fiber isn’t absorbed, it blocks some sugar and starch from being digested. It’s not just what you eat, but what you absorb—fiber traps calories, keeping them out of your system. For instance, eating cake on a high-fiber diet means you absorb fewer calories from it! Cooked greens, especially those rich in thylakoids, activate the ileal brake, reducing hunger and helping you eat fewer calories later on. Fiber-rich veggie starters also increase appetite-suppressing hormones, and kale can even curb sugar cravings. (Just be sure not to overcook your greens to preserve the thylakoids!)
Fiber continues its journey to the colon, where it feeds your gut bacteria. These Microbiota-Accessible Carbohydrates (prebiotics) nourish beneficial gut flora, which then produce short-chain fatty acids. These compounds help reduce appetite, increase fat burning, and boost metabolism, making high-calorie foods less appealing.
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👩🏼🌾 Ingredients
- Kale
- Mushrooms
- Balsamic vinegar
- Garlic
- Calabrian chili peppers
- Mustard powder
- Vegetable broth
- Seasonings
See the recipe card for quantities.
🥬 Substitutions
- Kale - use lacinato or curly kale
- Rice vinegar - use apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar instead
- Date syrup - substitute with maple syrup as desired
For more cruciferous recipes, visit my Cruciferous Recipes page.
📖 How to Make Kale Mushroom Veggie Starter
For the full recipe with quantities, scroll down to the bottom of the post. This is an overview.
- Chop the kale 40 minutes prior to cooking, or add mustard powder to the cooked kale for maximum nutrient absorption.
- Mushrooms: Heat the broth in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the sliced mushrooms. Spread them evenly along the base of the skillet. Cook them undisturbed for about 4 minutes. Then stir and cook for about 3 minutes more, or until softened.
- Add the kale and cook it with the mushrooms for about 2 minutes, stirring the leaves into the broth so the leaves wilt. Add the garlic and chili peppers. Cook for one minute more, stirring gently to incorporate the ingredients.
- Add the balsamic vinegar, mustard powder, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for one minute more, mixing to combine the ingredients.

✔️ Expert Tips
- Use a high-quality balsamic vinegar for the best-tasting kale and mushroom veggie starter!
- To maximize sulforaphane, chop the kale up to 40 minutes before cooking or sprinkle some mustard powder after cooking.
- For serving: Add hemp hearts, chopped nuts, or seeds for heart-healthy fats so you absorb the nutrients from the vegetables.
- Storage: Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
🙋🏽♀️ Recipe FAQs
Both types of kale are excellent sources of vitamins A, C, and K, fiber, and antioxidants, and have cancer-fighting compounds like sulforaphane. Some research suggests that lacinato kale may have slightly higher levels of antioxidants like lutein and zeaxanthin, which are beneficial for eye health. However, curly kale may contain higher amounts of certain flavonoids like quercetin, which have anti-inflammatory properties. Both have similar concentrations of thylakoids, compounds linked to hunger control and weight management.
Consuming vinegar with a meal helps reduce spikes in blood sugar, insulin, and triglycerides, and it seems to be especially effective for individuals who are insulin resistant or at risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Studies have shown that regular vinegar consumption may lead to modest reductions in body weight and belly fat. Vinegar also increases the feeling of being full after a meal. However, its effects are most effective when combined with a healthy diet and exercise.
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Kale Mushroom Veggie Starter Recipe
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Ingredients
- ½ cup vegetable broth preferably low sodium
- 10 stems lacinato kale or curly kale, tough stems removed, roughly chopped
- Dash of mustard powder
- 8 ounces button mushrooms or shitake, cremini, or oyster mushrooms, wiped clean, sliced ¼-inch-thick
- 2 Calabrian chili peppers or red chili peppers, minced (optional)
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon dried marjoram or oregano
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar plus more to taste
- Salt or salt substitute to taste
- Dash of freshly ground black pepper
Optional for serving:
- Sprinkle of hemp hearts or chopped nuts, or seeds
Instructions
- Cook the mushrooms: Heat the broth in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the sliced mushrooms. Spread them evenly along the base of the skillet. Cook them undisturbed for about 4 minutes. Then stir and cook for about 3 minutes more, or until softened.
- Add the kale and cook it with the mushrooms for about 2 minutes, stirring the leaves into the broth until the leaves wilt. Add a dash of mustard powder and mix well.
- Add the garlic and chili peppers. Cook for one minute more, stirring gently to incorporate the ingredients.
- Then add the balsamic vinegar, mustard powder, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for one minute more, mixing to combine the ingredients.
Notes
- To maximize nutrient absorption from kale, either chop it 40 minutes before cooking or sprinkle a dash of mustard powder onto the cooked kale.
- For the best flavor in your kale and mushroom veggie starter, use high-quality balsamic vinegar!
- For serving: Top with hemp hearts, chopped nuts, or seeds to add heart-healthy fats and enhance nutrient absorption from the vegetables.
Nutrition
This information is provided as a courtesy and is an ESTIMATE only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased can change the nutritional information in any given recipe.
Beth Ann Dudek says
Thank you for all of your recipes! I use the instant pot all the time and thrilled to see you do as well! Could you please share the kale starter directions for the IP and I'd love to adapt as many other recipes that you have for the IP as well 🙂
Nisha Melvani, RDN says
Yes, sure. See here: https://cookingforpeanuts.com/how-to-cook-kale/
Alan says
fantastic
Nisha Melvani, RDN says
Thank you for letting me know. So happy you enjoyed it!
Barbara says
So delicious! Yet so simple to prepare. I'll be making this soon again. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Nisha Melvani, RDN says
I'm thrilled you enjoyed it. Thank you.
Alan says
Maybe I haven't been keeping up! (Thought I had been...even though I've been mostly silent...) Not tried yet, but this looks fantastic. So, is a "starter" the equivalent of a cooked salad, a replacement at the beginning of a "full course meal"? Or have I missed something?
Nisha Melvani, RDN says
Hi! Welcome! It's a tasty way to "preload" with fiber-rich foods, helping to flatten the blood sugar spikes from the meal that follows!
Bambi says
I don’t see mustard in the ingredient list, however, it’s called for in the instructions. Please advise.
Nisha Melvani, RDN says
Sorry just added it! Thank you!