AbstractTo investigate the effects of semidry milling method on the quality attributes of glutinous rice flour and sweet dumpling, the glutinous rice flour were prepared by wet, dry and semidry milling, respectively. As a result, the content of damaged starch in dry‐milled rice flour was significantly higher than that in wet‐milled rice flour (P < 0.05). When the rice was tempered to 33% moisture, the content of damaged starch of semidry‐milled glutinous rice flour was the same as that of wet milling. The wet‐milled rice flour and semidry‐milled glutinous rice flour at 33% moisture showed similar microstructures. The semidry milling at 33% moisture had properties of texture and cooking of sweet dumplings similar to wet milling. These results indicated that the semidry milling at 33% moisture showed protective effects on the characteristics of glutinous rice flour and qualities of sweet dumplings by reducing the degree of starch damage and protecting the integrity of the starch granules.Practical ApplicationsThe findings in the present study demonstrated the beneficial effects of semidry milling method on the qualities of glutinous rice flour and sweet dumplings. The semidry milling at 33% moisture showed better characteristics of glutinous rice flour and qualities of sweet dumplings by reducing the degree of starch damage and protecting the integrity of the starch granules. Therefore, the present study demonstrated a new milling method comparable to wet milling for standardization and large‐scale industrial production of sweet dumplings.