diff --git a/crates/config/src/lib.rs b/crates/config/src/lib.rs
index 32c713230492..033a6789c17a 100644
--- a/crates/config/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/config/src/lib.rs
@@ -580,12 +580,13 @@ impl Config {
         self.evm_version = self.get_normalized_evm_version();
     }
 
-    /// Returns the normalized [EvmVersion] if a [SolcReq] is set to a valid version.
+    /// Returns the normalized [EvmVersion] if a [SolcReq] is set to a valid version or if the solc
+    /// path is a valid solc binary.
     ///
     /// Otherwise it returns the configured [EvmVersion].
     pub fn get_normalized_evm_version(&self) -> EvmVersion {
-        if let Some(SolcReq::Version(version)) = &self.solc {
-            if let Some(evm_version) = self.evm_version.normalize_version(version) {
+        if let Some(version) = self.solc.as_ref().and_then(|solc| solc.try_version().ok()) {
+            if let Some(evm_version) = self.evm_version.normalize_version(&version) {
                 return evm_version;
             }
         }
@@ -1602,11 +1603,15 @@ impl Config {
     ///
     /// See also <https://github.com/foundry-rs/foundry/issues/7014>
     fn normalize_defaults(&mut self, figment: Figment) -> Figment {
-        if let Ok(version) = figment.extract_inner::<Version>("solc") {
+        if let Ok(solc) = figment.extract_inner::<SolcReq>("solc") {
             // check if evm_version is set
             // TODO: add a warning if evm_version is provided but incompatible
             if figment.find_value("evm_version").is_err() {
-                if let Some(version) = self.evm_version.normalize_version(&version) {
+                if let Some(version) = solc
+                    .try_version()
+                    .ok()
+                    .and_then(|version| self.evm_version.normalize_version(&version))
+                {
                     // normalize evm_version based on the provided solc version
                     self.evm_version = version;
                 }
@@ -1999,6 +2004,22 @@ pub enum SolcReq {
     Local(PathBuf),
 }
 
+impl SolcReq {
+    /// Tries to get the solc version from the `SolcReq`
+    ///
+    /// If the `SolcReq` is a `Version` it will return the version, if it's a path to a binary it
+    /// will try to get the version from the binary.
+    fn try_version(&self) -> Result<Version, SolcError> {
+        match self {
+            SolcReq::Version(version) => Ok(version.clone()),
+            SolcReq::Local(path) => Solc::new(path).version().map_err(|err| {
+                warn!("failed to get solc version from {}: {}", path.display(), err);
+                err
+            }),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 impl<T: AsRef<str>> From<T> for SolcReq {
     fn from(s: T) -> Self {
         let s = s.as_ref();
diff --git a/crates/forge/bin/cmd/config.rs b/crates/forge/bin/cmd/config.rs
index 731a545e4610..0758ddf5028b 100644
--- a/crates/forge/bin/cmd/config.rs
+++ b/crates/forge/bin/cmd/config.rs
@@ -39,7 +39,10 @@ impl ConfigArgs {
             return Ok(())
         }
 
-        let config = self.try_load_config_unsanitized_emit_warnings()?;
+        let config = self
+            .try_load_config_unsanitized_emit_warnings()?
+            // we explicitly normalize the version, so mimic the behavior when invoking solc
+            .normalized_evm_version();
 
         let s = if self.basic {
             let config = config.into_basic();
diff --git a/crates/forge/tests/cli/config.rs b/crates/forge/tests/cli/config.rs
index d8f9db3106d9..f2dbf22c7aac 100644
--- a/crates/forge/tests/cli/config.rs
+++ b/crates/forge/tests/cli/config.rs
@@ -673,3 +673,11 @@ forgetest_init!(can_resolve_symlink_fs_permissions, |prj, cmd| {
     let permission = fs_permissions.find_permission(&config_path.join("config.json")).unwrap();
     assert_eq!(permission, FsAccessPermission::Read);
 });
+
+// tests if evm version is normalized for config output
+forgetest!(normalize_config_evm_version, |_prj, cmd| {
+    cmd.args(["config", "--use", "0.8.0", "--json"]);
+    let output = cmd.stdout_lossy();
+    let config: Config = serde_json::from_str(&output).unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(config.evm_version, EvmVersion::Istanbul);
+});