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.

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 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp chipotle in adobo sauce (maybe)
• 1.5 cups water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme (maybe)
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 bay leaf (maybe 1/4 tsp ground)
• 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 tomato paste, chipotle, and dried seasonings and cook until fragrant (about 30-60 seconds).
• Add the remaining ingredients including the drained beans, water, and hot sauce and bring to a simmer. 
• Cook the beans for 10 minutes on a low simmer with the lid on.
• Remove the lid, stir the beans, and continue simmering them on medium heat for about 5-10 minutes until the liquid has evaporated a bit and thickened slightly.
• When beans are tender and liquid has become a loose sauce, serve and enjoy. Also, remember to pick out the bay leaf before serving if not using ground bay leaves.