Potato skins are a snack food or appetizer. They are made of small, flat circular or oval pieces of potato

Potato

The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...

es with skin on one side and a quarter-inch or so of fleshy potato on the other. The fleshy side is covered with toppings such as bacon

Bacon

Bacon is a cured meat prepared from a pig. It is first cured using large quantities of salt, either in a brine or in a dry packing; the result is fresh bacon . Fresh bacon may then be further dried for weeks or months in cold air, boiled, or smoked. Fresh and dried bacon must be cooked before eating...

, cheddar cheese

Cheddar cheese

Cheddar cheese is a relatively hard, yellow to off-white, and sometimes sharp-tasting cheese, produced in several countries around the world. It has its origins in the English village of Cheddar in Somerset....

, and anything else that might be found on a baked potato

Baked potato

A baked potato, or jacket potato, is the edible result of baking a potato. When well cooked, a baked potato has a fluffy interior and a crisp skin. It may be served with fillings and condiments such as butter, cheese or ham....

.

Potato skins are often served in restaurants as an appetizer, in the same category of foods as buffalo wings

Buffalo wings

A Buffalo wing, hot wing or wing is a chicken wing section that is traditionally fried unbreaded and then coated in sauce...

, jalapeño popper

Jalapeño popper

Jalapeño poppers are jalapeño peppers that have been hollowed out, stuffed with a mixture of cheese, spices, and sometimes ground meat. They are either then breaded and deep fried or prepared unbreaded, wrapped in bacon, and baked or grilled...

s, and mozzarella sticks

Mozzarella sticks

Mozzarella sticks are elongated pieces of battered or breaded mozzarella cheese. The deep-fried snack is often served at restaurants as an appetizer or as North American pub fare...

. They are commonly found on the menus of casual dining restaurants such as T.G.I. Friday's

T.G.I. Friday's

T.G.I. Friday's is an American restaurant chain focusing on casual dining. The company is a unit of the Carlson Companies. Its name is taken from the expression TGIF...

, who popularized the food.

Restaurants that serve potato skins often buy the skins from suppliers rather than remove the inner parts of the potatoes themselves. Potato skins are often served with sour cream and salsa.