The nonlinear propagation of ion-acoustic waves is theoretically reported in a collisional plasma containing strongly coupled ions and nonthermal electrons featuring Tsallis distribution. For this purpose, the nonlinear integro-differential form of the generalized hydrodynamic model is used to investigate the strong-coupling effect. The modified complex Ginzburg–Landau equation with a linear dissipative term is derived for the potential wave amplitude in the hydrodynamic regime, and the modulation instability of ion-acoustic waves is examined. When the dissipative effect is neglected, the modified complex Ginzburg–Landau equation reduces to the nonlinear Schrödinger equation. Within the unstable region, two different types of second-order ion-acoustic rogue waves including single peak type and rogue wave triplets are discussed. The effect of the plasma parameters on the rogue waves is also presented.