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Considering that textbooks primarily influence the selection of topics and ideas presented in the classroom, as well as the way these topics are taught, including evolution, this study aims to address the following research question: How is evolution treated in Portuguese school textbooks published between 2018 and 2025 for the 7th to the 9th grade (13-15y old students)? This study is based on a mixed-method research design. We analyzed the two most widely used science textbooks for grades 7 to 9 in Portugal during the 2025–2026 school year. These textbooks were adopted for classroom use by more than 50% of Portuguese elementary schools. Content was coded with the FACE framework (Sá-Pinto et al., 2021), focusing on the categories History of Life, Evidence for Evolution, Mechanisms of Evolution and Studying evolution. Categories on Nature of Science and Scientific Practices were excluded as they represent transversal skills that support, but do not constitute, evolutionary content. Despite recent updates to Portuguese 7th–9th grade textbooks and the adoption of the “Essential Learning” curricula, evolutionary content remains limited. The textbooks expressed ideas with varying levels of depth from all four categories analysed: History of Life, Evidence for Evolution, Mechanisms of Evolution and Studying Evolution. The subcategories less represented were from the category Mechanisms of Evolution and Studying evolution. The main conclusion is that Portuguese textbooks and the curricula guiding their development should address deeply certain key topics and processes related to evolution, particularly the mechanisms of evolution. Although these topics are more extensively covered in high school science curricula, their foundational concepts should be introduced and reinforced through textbooks and curricula from lower grades.