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.

2/12/26 update - I think I discovered the secret - Ancho Chili Powder! I went on a mission to figure out what the spice specs were and came across a pure ancho chili powder at Target. Figured it was worth a try and this batch was my closest yet. Even the color was spot on. The lime and vinegar addition were also needed. I feel like I am getting real close now. It's just a matter of playing with the tomato and chipotle ingredients to dial it in.

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 and drained 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 (maybe)
• 1 tbsp tomato paste or chopped chipotle in adobo (maybe)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp ancho chili powder
• 1 tbsp chopped cilantro
• 1 cup water (reduced from 1.5 cups)
• 1.5 tsp lime juice (new)
• 1.5 tsp white vinegar (new)
• 2 tsp 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 heat the oil over medium heat. From here, you have two options as follows.
• One option is to blend all the other remaining ingredients (except for the water) in a blender to make a salsa. You want the ingredients to be diced but still a bit chunky like a restaurant style salsa. Then add the salsa to the soup pot, bring to a simmer, and cook for 3-5 minutes until the onions in the mixture turn transluscent. Then add the beans and water and simmer again for 5-10 minutes until the desired thickness of the sauce is reached and serve.
• A second option is to just cook the ingredients piecemeal like a traditional soup or chili. Start by cooking the onion in the oil, then add the tomatoes, then add the spices and cilantro, then add the water and beans, and simmer for 5-10 minutes and towards the end of the cooking time, add the lime juice, vinegar, and hot sauce. Then serve.
• I think Wahoo's uses the salsa method (option 1) given the miniature dice of the ingredients in the beans. But either method will come out tasting amazing so go with whatever is easiest in your kitchen.