Chili with White Beans

This chili skips the tomatoes entirely. No canned tomatoes, no tomato paste, no salsa. Instead, ground beef simmers for four hours in water with a heavy-hitting spice lineup of cumin, paprika, cayenne, oregano, and chili powder. The result is a deeply savory, beefy chili where the meat and spices do all the talking.

Dried navy beans cook right in the pot alongside everything else. Over four hours, they absorb the seasoned broth and turn creamy inside while holding their shape. The starch they release naturally thickens the chili into a rich, spoonable consistency without any added thickeners.

A generous amount of garlic (about four tablespoons’ worth) and a full bay leaf add aromatic backbone, while a touch of brown sugar rounds off the heat from the cayenne. This isn’t a fiery chili by default, but the cayenne and chili powder build a warm, steady glow that deepens over the long simmer.

Four hours sounds like a lot, but this is hands-off cooking. Brown the beef, dump everything in, and let it go. Check occasionally and add water if it gets too thick.

Pro Tips

• Brown the beef in batches so it actually sears rather than steams. Crowding the pot gives you gray, boiled meat with no flavor development.
• Don’t presoak the navy beans. They cook through perfectly in the 4-hour simmer and absorb more flavor from the broth this way.
• Start with the full 6 cups of water. The beans absorb a lot of liquid, and you can always reduce if it’s too thin toward the end.
• This tastes even better the next day. The spices meld overnight in the fridge.

Variations

• Substitute ground turkey or pork for a lighter or different-tasting chili.
• Add diced green chiles or jalapeños for fresh, vegetal heat.
• Stir in a can of diced tomatoes if you prefer a more traditional red chili base.