diff --git a/pandas/io/parquet.py b/pandas/io/parquet.py
index b4330349a8c9d..71099a56642f1 100644
--- a/pandas/io/parquet.py
+++ b/pandas/io/parquet.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
     DataFrame,
     MultiIndex,
     arrays,
+    concat,
     get_option,
 )
 from pandas.core.shared_docs import _shared_docs
@@ -218,8 +219,9 @@ def write(
 
     def read(
         self,
-        path,
+        path: FilePath,
         columns=None,
+        n_rows: int = None,
         use_nullable_dtypes: bool = False,
         storage_options: StorageOptions = None,
         **kwargs,
@@ -246,22 +248,40 @@ def read(
             mode="rb",
         )
         try:
-            pa_table = self.api.parquet.read_table(
-                path_or_handle, columns=columns, **kwargs
-            )
-            if dtype_backend == "pandas":
-                result = pa_table.to_pandas(**to_pandas_kwargs)
-            elif dtype_backend == "pyarrow":
-                result = DataFrame(
-                    {
-                        col_name: arrays.ArrowExtensionArray(pa_col)
-                        for col_name, pa_col in zip(
-                            pa_table.column_names, pa_table.itercolumns()
-                        )
-                    }
+            if not n_rows:
+                pa_table = self.api.parquet.read_table(
+                    path_or_handle, columns=columns, **kwargs
                 )
-            if manager == "array":
-                result = result._as_manager("array", copy=False)
+                if dtype_backend == "pandas":
+                    result = pa_table.to_pandas(**to_pandas_kwargs)
+                elif dtype_backend == "pyarrow":
+                    result = DataFrame(
+                        {
+                            col_name: arrays.ArrowExtensionArray(pa_col)
+                            for col_name, pa_col in zip(
+                                pa_table.column_names, pa_table.itercolumns()
+                            )
+                        }
+                    )
+                if manager == "array":
+                    result = result._as_manager("array", copy=False)
+            else:
+                batch_size = 65536
+                counter = 0
+                batches = []
+                if n_rows < batch_size:
+                    batch_size = n_rows
+                for batch in self.api.parquet.ParquetFile(source=path).iter_batches(
+                    batch_size=batch_size,
+                    columns=columns,
+                    use_pandas_metadata=kwargs["use_pandas_metadata"],
+                ):
+                    batches.append(batch.to_pandas(**to_pandas_kwargs))
+                    counter += batch_size
+                    if counter >= n_rows:
+                        break
+                    result = concat(batches)
+
             return result
         finally:
             if handles is not None:
@@ -325,7 +345,12 @@ def write(
             )
 
     def read(
-        self, path, columns=None, storage_options: StorageOptions = None, **kwargs
+        self,
+        path,
+        columns=None,
+        n_rows: int = None,
+        storage_options: StorageOptions = None,
+        **kwargs,
     ) -> DataFrame:
         parquet_kwargs: dict[str, Any] = {}
         use_nullable_dtypes = kwargs.pop("use_nullable_dtypes", False)
@@ -361,6 +386,11 @@ def read(
 
         try:
             parquet_file = self.api.ParquetFile(path, **parquet_kwargs)
+            if n_rows:
+                return parquet_file.head(
+                    n_rows=n_rows, columns=columns, **kwargs
+                )  # Only for convenience and to mirror PyArrow impl
+                # Whole table is still loaded first
             return parquet_file.to_pandas(columns=columns, **kwargs)
         finally:
             if handles is not None: