Tony Roma’s Inspired BBQ Chicken is juicy, flavorful chicken. Perfect for a quick weeknight dinner or a weekend cookout. Try it today!
Tony Roma’s Inspired BBQ Chicken is a delicious copycat Chicken Recipe that brings the restaurant flavor right to your own kitchen. If you love this recipe, then you will also enjoy Oven Baked BBQ Chicken and Applesauce BBQ Chicken.
Sabrina’s Tony Roma’s Inspired BBQ Chicken Recipe
I love a copycat recipe that brings me back to my childhood and going to Tony Roma’s for dinner is one of them. There was no nutritional content printed next to the meals shaming you from ordering things. It was such a period of innocence. Innocence that leads to these delicious food memories. These days we reserve this meal for a once in a while type dish or we make altered versions of it.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1 cup vinegar
- 1/2 cup corn syrup
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
- 8 pieces chicken , of your choice – skin and bone on (preferably)
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients into a saucepan and whisk until combined.
- Bring to a boil, then simmer on low for 45 minutes.
- Set oven to 400 degrees.
- Season chicken liberally with salt and pepper.
- Cook chicken for 35-40 minutes.
- Coat with BBQ sauce, then put under broiler for a few minutes.
- With the oven door open watch the sauce as it begins to bubble and caramelize.
- When it is browned to your liking, take out.
Slow Cooker
- Alternatively, you can cook the chicken in a slow cooker on low for 7 hours, skin side up with only salt and pepper added. NO liquids.
- Remove chicken gently from slow cooker and follow the rest of the directions.
- Serve with onion loaf, cole slaw, and lots of extra BBQ sauce!
Nutrition
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Note from Sabrina
I usually make the BBQ chicken with white meat or pork tenderloin. The cole slaw is regularly made with light mayo (spoiler alert, it still tastes great!), and the onion rings are made in one small mini loaf pan to be shared by everyone.
Table of contents
About this Recipe
Sticky, tangy, sweet tomato-based BBQ sauce is slathered over chicken and caramelized in the oven. When we would go to the restaurant as kids, my dad and my brother would order the ribs, while my mom and I would order chicken.
Pairing Suggestions
Whenever we went to Tony Roma’s, we always ordered an onion loaf. You can stick to the restaurant theme and make a Tony Roma’s Copycat Onion Loaf. Another favorite side would be Easy Cole Slaw. And don’t forget the extra BBQ sauce!
How to Store
- Serve: Make sure to store chicken after no more than 2 hours at room temperature.
- Store: Refrigerate leftover chicken in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
- Freeze: Cool chicken completely and place in a sealed container. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in refrigerator before reheating.
Variations
- Sweet: Instead of sugar, you can use honey or maple syrup to sweeten this barbecue sauce. For an even sweeter, thicker sauce add 2 tablespoons molasses.
- Spicy: Add a ½ cup of a hot sauce to make a spicy BBQ sauce.
- Seasonings: Use a store bought BBQ chicken rub to season the chicken. For the sauce, add seasonings like dry mustard, yellow mustard, smoked paprika, liquid smoke, or cayenne pepper.
- Chicken: Substitute other chicken pieces like chicken legs and chicken breasts with this recipe. Chicken breast and boneless, skinless chicken cooks faster so check temp after 30 minutes cook time.
Related Recipes
More BBQ Chicken Recipes
Photos used in previous post
Delish. This was easy to make and was a hit with my family. Thanks for sharing this nice keeper.
What type of vinegar do you use….white, apple cider or other or doesn’t it matter????
Hi! It will be white unless otherwise stated.
Can Splenda or any other sugar substitute diet used. If so would the amount still be the same 2 tsp..
Thankyou
I’ve not tested it using Splenda so I can’t really say what would work.
This looks delicious, but I am just wondering if you think that honey would work as a substitute for the corn syrup. Thank you!
It will change the flavor profile a bit but would work as a substitute. Enjoy!
I have not made this BQ chicken yet but I’m giving you 5 stars because all of your cole slaws (and I now have made them all) are delicious. I want to try this BQ chicken to go with your slaw recipes. I usually prepare both thighs and breasts but I remove skin because my family won’t eat it. Will I be sacrificing flavor if I remove skin? Thank you for providing such a professional website. I use it so often with much success.
It’ll still be delicious!
This was absolutely delicious, the chicken was so moist and scrumptious, thanks so much for the recipe, will make this over and over again.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for coming back to let me know!
I just want to thank you! I am a breastfeeding mama who’s baby is allergic to dairy, egg, wheat and coconut. I am so grateful I came across your site because there are so many recipes I can try and also love all the crock pot options!
I am so glad to be here to help!!
I have only eaten at Tony Roma’s once. I honestly don’t remember what I ate, but I know it was good! I won’t miss an opportunity to eat a recipe inspired by it!
This barbecue sauce is really tasty, I hope you enjoy it!
I love Tony Roma’s. Especially the BBQ chicken! That’s one of my favorite recipes there! I will be trying this one at home!
I hope you get to try it soon! Let me know how it turns out.
My mouth is watering looking at this! I cannot wait to make this BBQ chicken!
Thanks! I hope you enjoy it!
Love this chicken! It looks so good…yum!
Thank you!
The BBQ chicken looks insane. I can’t wait to try this recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Haha Thank you!
That looks delicious. You wouldn’t think I just ate dinner. This has my tummy grumbling… #greedy
Haha that is awesome. When I put up the post in the mornings I crave what I am posting. So this week it has been a lot of interesting foods that I am craving before the sun even comes up.
This looks better than what the restaurant serves! So delicious!
So sweet! Thank you 🙂
You can’t beat BBQ and slaw!
yes!
i have never been to Tony Roma’s we don’t have one near here. But I love making BBQ chicken however I just use my oven I do not use slow cookers. 🙂
That’s so dang good!! This is one of my absolutely faves! I always use chicken thighs and it comes out ah-may-zing!
Yay. Ps I love your blog! I make the baked chicken and rice ALL the time!
Your chicken looks amazing. The crispy on the skin is perfect.
Thank you 🙂
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Another great Tony Roma’s recipe!! Now people can enjoy the meals without leaving home!
Yes!
I know using the broiler is key for that outside crispy crunch. I will have to make this and pay Tony Roma’s a visit to compare.
Mmm that barbeque would be so good right now. I’d definitely have to try it with the slow cooker first!
You will LOVE how chicken cooks in the slow cooker, I promise!
You’ve made it sound so easy! I need to try this recipe. I am a huge fan of my slow cooker, so I’ll definitely try it that way too.
I love barbecue chicken. I have got to make this soon.
Hope you love it!
This looks fantastic!!
Thanks!
This looks great! I’ve never had anything of Tony Roma but this looks so amazing!
Thanks!
This looks really yummy. I think I need to make this for dinner this weekend.
I hope you love it! Come back and tell me what you thought of it if you can 🙂
Yum! I miss Tony Roma’s – I remember going there all the time as a child.
I miss it too! That’s why I had to figure out a way to have more. Now if I could only find the recipe to Pioneer Chicken!
Is Tony Roma’s a restaurant? Because if so, and this is the kind of food they serve, we need one here in Boston!
Yes! It was hugely popular in the 80s and 90s. It still exists but it isn’t the destination restaurant it used to be sadly.
This is one of the best dish series I’ve seen in a while. Everything on this plate is spectacular!
Thanks!
YUM! You can’t beat good barbecue with coleslaw. That’s Nomtastic!