Cajun White Beans

Fortunately in the places I've lived and worked, I've always been near a Wahoo's Fish Taco. Whether it is for a work lunch or a quick weeknight or weekend dinner, this is a great spot. Their core food is Baja Coastal Mexican fare but they introduce some influences from other cuisines.

One is their Banzai sautéed veggies which uses a light teriyaki sauce giving it an Asian flavor and the other is their Cajun white beans. These are some of my favorite beans. My go-to order is a Banzai burrito with the rice and Cajun beans on the side instead of in the burrito. It's an awesome meal.

I love these beans so much, I've been tempted to get a part time job at Wahoo's just to learn the secret. Doing some Google searches for a copycat recipe has turned up nothing helpful. For now, I'll use this post to track my trial and errors before I finally am able to perfect it.

And if anyone knows the secret recipe and won't get in trouble sharing it or offering some tips and suggestions, I'd love to hear from you.

3/16/25 update - I made my recipe again and then bought a side of the real Wahoo's Cajun white beans for comparison. I am getting much closer with the color, consistency, and flavor. However, some things to note from the round. The smoky flavor and heat level are now very close, but I was definitely missing acid either from vinegar or lime or both. The Wahoo's beans also had noticeable chunks of tomatoes this time so it is more than just tomato paste. The cilantro was also cooked with all the ingredients instead of being added at the end because it was a dull green instead of bright green. And there were a lot more specs of spices in their sauce. I think this is likely chipotle pepper powder or chili powder. Interestingly, their roasted tomato salsa had the same tomatoes, cilantro, and spice specs as the beans. It makes me wonder if they use this salsa as a base in the recipe. I couldn't find a recipe for the salsa but made some new tweaks below to try for the next round.

2/16/25 update - I found the source of the green flakes. It is cilantro! I found Wahoo's allergen guide for their menu. The Cajun White Spicy Beans show as vegan and containing gluten and and cilantro. So that answers that. The fact that they are vegan also means the smoke flavor is not coming from smoked meat like bacon or sausage. I am scratching my head on the gluten part. Either they use flour as a thickener or it is present in one of the ingredients they add. I've made tweaks again to the recipe and will give it another try soon.

1/4/23 update - made this recipe and then purchased a side of beans from Wahoo's for comparison. I think I'm getting really close and it's just a matter of fine tuning at this point. First observation is there's isn't as red color as I initially thought. More brown which means less tomato paste. And there was definitely a smoke flavor but maybe from chipotle or smoked paprika, not likely from chili powder which this recipe once had. Plus saltier. And the green flakes may be finally ground thyme or perhaps ground up bay leaf as suggested. I've made recipe tweaks and will try again in a few months.

Ingredients

• 2 15oz cans or 1/2 pound dried pre-cooked white navy beans
• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• 1/4 yellow or white onion, diced (about 1/2 cup)
• 1/2 can (7oz) fire roasted tomatoes (new)
• 1 tbsp tomato paste (maybe)
• 1 tbsp chipotle in adobo sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika (reduced from 1 tsp)
• 1/2 tsp chipotle pepper powder (new)
• 1 tbsp chopped cilantro
• 1.5 cups water
• 1.5 tsp lime juice (new)
• 1.5 tsp white vinegar (new)
• 1 tbsp cayenne hot sauce (I think Wahoo's uses Tapatio)

Directions

• Drain the canned beans or prep the dried beans using my Low and Slow Beans recipe.
• Grab a soup pot and saute the onion in the oil on medium heat until translucent (about 3-5 minutes).
• Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, chipotle, dried seasonings, and cilantro and cook until the water has evaporated from the tomatoes (about 2-3 minutes).
• Add the remaining ingredients including the drained beans, water, lime juice, vinegar, and hot sauce and bring to a simmer. 
• Cook the beans for 10-20 minutes on a low simmer with the lid off until the liquid has evaporated a bit and thickened slightly. If you'd like to avoid the liquid from evaporating while the beans cook longer, put the lid on the pot.
• When beans are tender and liquid has become a loose sauce, serve and enjoy.