TL;DR: Skips are a prawn cocktail flavoured corn puff snack made by KP Snacks. They are best known for the way they dissolve almost instantly on your tongue. Skips are vegan and contain no animal-derived ingredients in the current recipe. They are not certified gluten free, though the base ingredient is maize. Available in prawn cocktail only as a standard flavour, in individual bags and multipacks.
Skips are one of those crisps that people feel strongly about. Not in the way they feel about Walkers Cheese and Onion, which is a matter of national identity, but in the way they feel about something that does something genuinely unusual. That melt-on-the-tongue texture is not an accident. It is a specific product design, and it is the reason Skips have survived for decades in a market where most novelty snacks disappear within a few years.
The History of Skips
Who makes Skips?
Skips are made by KP Snacks, the snack company that also produces Hula Hoops, McCoy’s, Tyrrells, Butterkist, and several other UK brands. KP Snacks is owned by Intersnack, a German snack manufacturer that is one of the largest snack companies in Europe. The KP brand itself has roots going back to the 1950s under the name Kenyon Produce (later shortened to KP).
Skips were launched in the 1970s and have been a consistent product in the KP range ever since. The prawn cocktail flavour has always been the primary variant. The brand has gone through various packaging updates over the decades but the product itself has remained largely unchanged, which is a significant achievement in a market that constantly pushes for reformulation and line extensions.
What gives Skips their texture?
The dissolving texture comes from the production method. Skips are made from a maize base that is extruded at a specific density to create a very light, airy internal structure. When the puff hits moisture (from your tongue or saliva), it collapses almost immediately. The seasoning sits on the outside of the structure, so the flavour releases as the texture dissolves. It is a completely different experience from eating a standard corn puff or a potato crisp, and it is why Skips have their own dedicated fanbase rather than competing directly with other snacks.
Skips Flavours: What Is Available
Prawn Cocktail
Prawn cocktail is the signature and effectively the only widely available Skips flavour. Despite the name, there are no actual prawns in Skips. The flavour is a seasoning blend that replicates the sweet, tangy, slightly spicy profile of a prawn cocktail sauce. Our post on whether prawn cocktail crisps contain real prawns covers the ingredient reality across the category.
The current Skips recipe uses a prawn cocktail seasoning that contains flavourings, sugar, dextrose, tomato powder, and other components. The full allergen picture is covered in the dietary section below.
Other flavours
Over the years, Skips have appeared in limited edition and alternative flavours, but prawn cocktail is consistently the only flavour in regular production. If other flavours have returned or been launched since this was written, always check the KP Snacks website or the current retail listings for confirmation.
Are Skips Vegan?
Yes, Skips are vegan
Despite being prawn cocktail flavoured, Skips contain no animal-derived ingredients in the current recipe. There are no prawns, no dairy, no egg, and no other animal products listed in the ingredients. The prawn cocktail flavour is entirely plant-based seasoning.
This makes Skips one of the more surprising vegan-friendly snacks on the UK market. A prawn cocktail crisp that is actually vegan is a genuinely useful thing to know if you are catering for a mixed group or shopping for someone who avoids animal products.
Our dedicated post on whether Skips are vegan goes into the full ingredient breakdown and covers any cross-contamination considerations.
Are Skips Gluten Free?
The base is maize, but check the packaging
Skips are made from a maize base, and maize is naturally gluten free. However, KP Snacks do not certify Skips as gluten free. The production environment may handle other products that contain gluten, and the seasoning could contain ingredients with gluten-adjacent allergen risks depending on the production run.
For coeliacs or anyone with a serious gluten sensitivity, the safe approach is to check the current packet before buying. Recipes and factory arrangements can change. The fact that maize is the base does not guarantee gluten free status if the flavouring or production environment introduces risk.
Our dedicated post on whether Skips are gluten free has the most up-to-date information on the allergen situation.
Skips Calories and Nutritional Information
A relatively light snack
Skips are notably light in terms of weight and calorie count. A standard individual bag comes in at around 60 to 70 calories. A multipack bag (the smaller format) is typically around 55 to 65 calories. This is lower than most potato crisps, which tend to run from 90 to 130 calories per bag depending on format.
The low calorie count is a consequence of the light, airy texture. Skips have a lot of volume for very little actual product weight, which keeps the energy content down. They are not a health food, but they sit at the lighter end of the snack spectrum.
Why Do Skips Melt on Your Tongue?
It is all about the structure
The science behind the Skips texture is about the density and moisture content of the product. Skips are produced using an extrusion process that creates a very fine, open internal structure within each puff. Unlike a dense corn snack (such as a Wotsit or a Discos crisp), Skips have almost no structural rigidity once they encounter moisture. The puff collapses immediately.
This is not unique to Skips, but Skips do it more completely than most similar products. The combination of the fine structure and the prawn cocktail seasoning on the outside means the flavour is released almost simultaneously with the texture dissolving. It creates a very distinctive eating experience that either hooks people completely or does nothing for them.
Where to Buy Skips in Bulk
Skips are widely stocked in supermarkets, but for anyone who wants to buy a full box rather than individual multipacks, our box of Skips Prawn Cocktail is available at a pound per bag. Buying a full box is the most cost-effective way to stock up, and at over 30,000 impressions a month in search, it is clearly a product people want in volume.
They are popular for kids’ parties (the low calorie count and dissolving texture goes down well with younger age groups), offices, and any event where you want a lighter snack option that still has proper flavour.
Skips have lasted this long because the product does something genuinely distinctive. The texture, the flavour, the vegan-friendly credentials that most people do not know about: it all adds up to a snack that deserves more attention than it usually gets. If you have not eaten a Skips since you were a kid, try one as an adult. The melt is just as good.
Buy Skips in Bulk at One Pound Crisps
Order a full box of Skips Prawn Cocktail and get the best price per bag online.
Are Skips vegan?
Yes. Skips contain no animal-derived ingredients in the current recipe. Despite being prawn cocktail flavoured, there are no actual prawns, dairy, or other animal products in Skips. They are one of the more useful vegan-friendly snack options in the mainstream market.
Are Skips gluten free?
Skips are made from a maize base, which is naturally gluten free. However, KP Snacks do not certify them as gluten free, and there may be cross-contamination risks from the production environment. People with coeliac disease should check the current packaging before buying.
Who makes Skips?
Skips are made by KP Snacks, which is owned by the German snack company Intersnack. KP Snacks also makes Hula Hoops, McCoy’s, Tyrrells, and several other UK crisp brands.
Why do Skips dissolve on your tongue?
Skips are made using an extrusion process that creates a very fine, open internal structure. When the puff encounters moisture from your tongue, the structure collapses almost immediately. This is a deliberate product design rather than a byproduct of the manufacturing process.
Do Skips contain real prawns?
No. The prawn cocktail flavour in Skips comes from a seasoning blend that replicates the flavour of prawn cocktail sauce. There are no actual prawns in the product. This is also why Skips can be vegan despite the prawn-sounding name.
How many calories are in Skips?
A standard individual bag of Skips contains approximately 60 to 70 calories depending on pack size. Multipack bags are typically slightly smaller and contain around 55 to 65 calories. Skips are one of the lower-calorie options among mainstream bagged snacks.