Parboiled rice is rice that has been boiled in the husk Parboiling makes rice easier to process by hand, improves its nutritional profile, and changes its texture. Today, it is the preferred rice of many in the eastern and southern parts of the Indian Subcontinent.

Polishing rice by hand, that is, removing the bran layer, is easier if the rice has been parboiled. It is, however, somewhat more difficult to process mechanically. The bran of parboiled rice is somewhat oily, and tends to clog machinery. Most parboiled rice is milled in the same way as white rice