Easy Low Fat Chili

The COVID news is louder now. By mid-February the word pandemic was starting to appear in the same sentences as the word preparedness, and the tone had shifted from "situation in China" to "possibility of wider spread." I still didn't know what to make of it. Nobody did. You read the reports and you compared them to your existing mental model of how these things usually go and tried to calibrate. My mental model was built on things like the 2009 flu season, which was real but manageable, and I knew enough to know that this might be different, but the knowing was theoretical.

I restocked the pantry that week anyway. Not out of panic—out of the same instinct that has always made me keep the freezer full and the canned goods stocked. My family has enough history with disruption that preparedness isn't anxiety, it's just how you live. The pantry already had dried beans, dried corn, rice, canned tomatoes. I added another twenty pounds of dried beans and a few extra jugs of oil and called it done.

Lily called from Fayetteville to ask if I was worried. I said a little. She said her professor was very worried. I said professors know things the rest of us don't always know in time. She said yeah.

Made a big batch of succotash with dried beans and the last of the frozen corn from summer, and a pan of johnnycakes that I cooked on the cast iron griddle. It was a meal that would have been familiar to someone in this region two hundred years ago, which I thought about while eating it. Continuity is comfort. The pantry was full. That felt right.

The succotash and johnnycakes that night were exactly right—old food, honest food—but the batch of chili I made the following evening drew from the same restocked pantry and carried the same feeling: that dried beans and canned tomatoes are a kind of quiet promise you make to yourself. This Easy Low Fat Chili is what I reach for when I want something that simmers on its own and asks very little of me while the world outside asks a great deal. It’s simple enough to feel settled, and filling enough to mean it.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 1 hour | Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

1 lb dried pinto or kidney beans, soaked overnight and drained (or 3 cans, 15 oz each, drained and rinsed)
1 lb extra-lean ground beef or turkey (90/10 or leaner), optional — omit for vegetarian
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup low-sodium beef or vegetable broth
1 tablespoon olive oil

Instructions

Cook the aromatics. Heat olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and bell pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more.
Brown the meat (if using). Push the vegetables to the side and add the ground meat. Cook, breaking it up with a spoon, until no pink remains, about 6–8 minutes. Drain off any excess fat.
Bloom the spices. Stir in the chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, oregano, cayenne, salt, and black pepper. Cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly, until fragrant.
Add tomatoes and beans. Pour in the crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, and broth. Stir in the drained beans. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil.
Simmer low and slow. Reduce heat to low, cover partially, and simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour, stirring occasionally, until the chili has thickened and the flavors have melded. Adjust salt and cayenne to taste.
Serve. Ladle into bowls. Serve as-is or top with a small spoonful of plain Greek yogurt in place of sour cream to keep it light.

Nutrition (per serving)

Easy Low Fat Chili — The Pantry Held, and So Did We